Fantastic New Cinema Lumiere Comes To The Mercury Mall-Havering’s Alternative To Leicester Square.

“What Romford needs is a unique challenger concept, a disrupter if you like. Lumiere will be a place where you can enjoy different types of activity on different days, a place of engagement, a place where the art of entertainment truly lives.”

On 3rd March, Romford’s new event venue, Lumiere, will open to the public in the space formerly occupied by the Premiere Cinema. It will offer an eclectic mix of activities to provide real choice to both local residents and Londoners, giving them an alternative to venturing into Leicester Square.

 The Romford Film Trust is a brand new charitable operation that will primarily focus on film but will also celebrate other elements of performance. The organisation is the force behind The Romford Film Festival, which has grown massively over the last few years, primarily as a result of the Romford Horror Festival. This festival brings people from across the globe into Romford to celebrate four days of new and classic horror, with special guests, horror merchandise and other exciting elements of horror culture. When Premiere Cinema closed in August, the Trust quickly devised a plan to transform the venue.

 “The thing about Romford is it doesn’t need two cinemas battling it out, showing the same content and consistently lowering prices to outdo one another, when currently cinema is in a lull,” says Lumiere founder Spencer Hawken. “What Romford needs is a unique challenger concept, a disrupter if you like. Lumiere will be a place where you can enjoy different types of activity on different days, a place of engagement, a place where the art of entertainment truly lives.”

 “We are most definitely not interested in trying to be the cheapest place in Romford; our concern is the offer over price. While some might just want a cheap way to entertain their family, there’s a perfectly acceptable cinema on the other side of town that can do that.”

 So why will Lumiere be different and what will it be offering?

 For years, nightlife in Romford has very much revolved around drinking culture, or the alternative is the wonderful Brookside Theatre down the road. Beyond that, The Brewery offers great amusements and a perfectly good cinema. But when it comes to mixing it up, Romford residents tend to venture further afield in order to experience different activities. There is nowhere that couples and families can go together and enjoy different things that can occupy their entire evening, in the knowledge that the following night they could return to the same place and do something completely different.

 We spoke to Spencer about what a standard week at Lumiere would look like in order to understand better what the new venue is all about.Every single day, screens 1–4 will show the latest cinema offerings — fewer screenings of the same movies, more films screened that will be released that week. Screen 5’s primary focus will be independent film at all levels, from action movies to documentaries, horror to foreign language. The greatest ideas and the biggest directors in the world come from creating indie films. Screen 6 will no longer be a screen; the space will be turned into a mixed-use area. Here you’ll find art, the Monday night movie quiz, special audience sessions that will look at the long-running careers of stars of both the big and small screen, with the person in question present to talk about their life. It will have cabaret, video games nights, a board games group, art classes, book launches, author visits and signings, and will be the place that attendees can get autographs from the stars during the nine yearly film festivals. It will also become the home of small community groups like Kaleidoscope, the LGBT+ group for young adults who have been continuously moving location since the cinema closed in August. Screen 7 will be dedicated to the silver screen — a place where you can enjoy a season of Clint Eastwood films, during October different horror movies every night. Classics like Kramer vs. Kramer, Gone With The Wind, the Die Hard movies back to back. Musical month and those forgotten movies of the 80s that were blockbuster splashes but seemingly forgotten now like Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Police Academy, Short Circuit, The Dark Crystal. During December each year the screen will play back-to-back blockbuster Christmas movies. And on Saturdays from 10am–3pm it’s bringing back the real retro, reinventing Saturday Morning Pictures with classic cartoons long absent from TV screens, ongoing serials like Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe, King of the Rocket Men, The Red Hand Gang, Doctor Who; followed by a Children’s Film Foundation movie, a selection of public information films and an all-time classic like Jason and the Argonauts, Valley of the Gwangi, The Poseidon Adventure, Antz or Battle Beyond the Starsto name but a few. Screen 8 is to be transformed with the installation of a stage, lighting rig, and sound mixer. Here you’ll enjoy a mix of arthouse cinema — those films that don’t normally get seen outside of central London — special satellite screenings of theatre, concerts and other performances, plus live music, stand-up, and touring theatre. And if that’s not enough, Bollywood, Eastern European movies, and a whole season of Japanese movies. The space can also be used for conferences and product launches.

 On Thursdays at 10am, 11am and 12pm, screenings on any screen are free for the over 60s and come with a free tea or coffee.

 In addition, there will be screenings dedicated to those with autism and dementia, and subtitles will be available on selected sessions throughout the week.

 And once a week, the venue will have a noisy screen, where like-minded parents can sit with young children and not worry if their child has a meltdown.

 Outside in the lobby, there will be a coffee shop open until 10.30pm, for those that love coffee late at night. Cosy seating and, with council approval, a fully licensed bar for members’ use.

 There is one more glaring issue that Lumiere will address: safety. There will be a continuous security and cleaning presence, with in-screen safety being paramount. Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and an in-screen presence will be reminding people to whisper and put their mobiles away (unless in the aforementioned noisy screen). For those not enjoying the film, but are there with a loved one, alternative offerings such as a TV in the bar area and a selection of film books will be available with comfy chairs so they can remove themselves from the screen.

 Not immediately, but after sufficient funds have been raised, areas of the upstairs mezzanine of the cinema will be converted to provide a home to artists across Havering.

 “The landlords, Rank (remember the guy with the gong?) see real potential for the venture, which as a business could never actually work, which is why we have created a charity, because it brings reductions across the board if your intentions are not to make a profit. And the future of the venue will not come from being dependent on public funds, but in creating such value that attendees of the cinema will become members, securing discounts and providing much-needed income to transform the space.”

 “Anyone can use the venue, where ticket prices will be £6.99 or £18 for a family of four. However, if one of the family becomes a member, ticket prices will be £4 or £14 for a family of four. In addition, the concession prices, which will be the same as the former Premiere Cinemas price point, will be reduced by 10% when membership is shown. The reason for the Membership model is down to the improvement and maintenance of the venue. The reason so many cinemas are collapsing is because the maintenance of the building and the items therein means that most places go into debt on day one. On top of this, the studios have continuously upped their licensing costs so that for each admission to a screen, the venue makes just pennies; this is not a workable business model in the long term. 100% of the yearly membership will go towards making the place look better; it won’t pay staff or stock, it will go solely on improving the environment. It will give the venue a much-needed modernisation, because currently little has changed since 1990.”

 Each auditorium will have a sign outside telling those visiting what the plan is aesthetically for the auditorium, how much is needed to raise for this, and how far through the fundraising process the venue is.

 The charity hopes to raise £750,000 over the next three years to transform the place. However, Spencer is currently fundraising for £100,000 so that on the day the venue opens, its visitors will see enough change to the place to get them excited about becoming members. Better still, because the place will be running on a not-for-profit basis, each year any profit made will be returned to members in the form of Lumiere cash; they can then use that (dependent on the amount) to buy their next year’s membership, or buy cinema tickets, or food and drink. There will also be a yearly AGM where members can find out more about how the enterprise runs.

 The changes Lumiere plan to make to the venue are:

• Some projection equipment and sound systems need replacing.

• The projection screens in the auditoriums are dirty and require replacement.

• The 34-year-old curtains in every screen need replacing due to dirt and stains.

• The toilets need a complete overhaul, including ceiling-to-floor cubicles for those with public toilet anxiety, and a Changing Places toilet for disabled people to be fully comfortable.

• Install a lift to improve accessibility.

• The lobby needs reconfiguring to optimise space.

• Screen 6 will be converted into an events space.

• Screens 3, 4, and 5 will have their seating replaced with armchairs and sofas.

• The upstairs will be renovated to create studios, meeting spaces, classrooms, and ad hoc facilities.

• Doors to all screens need replacing. The venue would like to put door openers on them for disabled users.

• The air conditioning system requires a complete overhaul.

• Signage needs replacing, and a new colour scheme will be introduced.

• A new till system needs to be installed to manage an incredibly complex series of tasks, to show members where the money comes from and where it goes in a yearly AGM.

• Finally, the venue wants to change the building’s frontage to allow entry only to members and ticket holders.

 You can help to raise the £100,000 by visiting the Lumiere Kickstarter, where some amazing pre-opening offers can be found.

Lumiere are keen to point out that not raising this amount will not prevent the opening, but it will vastly help to improve the space and make people feel happier about the venue.

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