Work will resume on the long-anticipated Ealing Cinema next month after the council announced on Saturday (March 24) that the eight-screen venue will be completed by 2020.
Construction will progress in April, nearly 10 years after the old cinema was first knocked down, after an amended planning application was approved by Ealing Council .
Developer St George said the eight-screen cinema in Ealing Broadway will be complete by 2020, along with 209 homes – 43 of which will be affordable – and two mixed commercial units.
As well as the 1,045-seat cinema, the development will also include a new pedestrian route linking Bond Street to a high-quality public plaza in the heart of the development.
Ealing Cinema saga
Speaking on Saturday (March 24), council leader Julian Bell said that he is “determined” that residents will have access to the cinema again as soon as possible.
He said: “We have been working with St George for the last 18 months in order to build the cinema.
“We did break ground in December 2016 but there have been further delays, and that's really regrettable and I'm very disappointed by that.
“You may have noticed last summer Flava's Bar in Mattock Lane was knocked down. We were expecting Walpole House to be knocked down after that in the Autumn but it didn't happen.
“That will now be done in April and the building work of the cinema will then start with a vengeance."
St George first started work on the £100 million development in December 2016, with the initial aim of completing the project in 2019.
The scheme, which the developer suggests will now be complete by 2020, will bring the largest Picturehouse cinema outside the West End to Ealing .
Councillor Bell added: “Unfortunately, this delay has meant the cinema will now not be built until 2020, but I have categorical assurances from St George's that it will be built by 2020.
“I'm pleased that finally we are going to make progress and we will get our cinema back in Ealing.”
No exact date has been set for the development's completion.
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