Coming soon: £1.4m Screen on Green auction

Published: 26 February 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

ONE of Islington’s best-loved buildings – the Screen on the Green – is up for auction for a cool £1.4million but planning rules say the buyer must keep it as a cinema.

The Everyman Cinema group wants to sell the freehold but continue to rent the Upper Street cinema – one of the oldest in the country – from the new owners in a 25-year deal.

Although the group will end up paying more in rent than the value of the building, it says that having ready cash now to invest in five new cinemas will prove more profitable.

The lot, with a guide price of £1.4million, will be sold at auction at the Millenium Hotel, in Grosvenor Square, on March 9.

Paul Wise, of Everyman Cinemas, said the plan was to open another four or five cinemas in the next four years. “If you have the money in the bank, our theory is you should make more from operating businesses than paying rent,” he added. “It’s an unusual business model.
“We love the cinema side of the business and want to move the property side to someone else.”
He insisted that cinema was booming. “It’s busier than it’s ever been,” he said. “We’ve just spent a good few hundred thousand pounds redoing our cinemas. Our commitment to Screen on the Green is bigger than ever.” When asked if he thought the building could be redeveloped, he said: “It’s highly unlikely. It’s an iconic building so I’m not sure that would be possible and 25 years is a long way away.”

The Screen on the Green has recently been refurbished, with 120 luxury armchairs and sofas. Premium tickets sell for £12.50.

The building is locally listed as Grade A by Islington Council, which gives it a high priority in conservation value.

A council planner said: “It confers no extra statutory powers. We may look into securing these through English Heritage.” The facade is protected by Islington’s conservation policy and can’t be demolished, but the interior, which contains no original features, can be altered with planning permission.

But it can only be used as a cinema. The Town Hall confirmed: “Permission will not normally be granted for development which would involve the loss of a public cinema or theatre, or any other building suitable for public entertainment, arts or cultural use, unless it is replaced with a similar facility.”

But auctioneer Jimmy Bell, of Jones Lang LaSalle, which is handling the sale, said that, with the right permission, a developer could build above the cinema or on adjacent land.

He said: “We’re not sell­ing it as a development. If an investor buys it now and, when the lease runs out, Everyman doesn’t want it, then a developer can apply to planners.
“There’s land to the rear that hasn’t been built on but it’s not very much. While there is a redevelopment opportunity, the planners will want to make sure that somewhere in any proposed redevelopment a cinema will remain.”
He added: “It’s only been on the market for a week and the initial response has been strong. Generally, the people ringing up are discerning buyers.”

The cinema was built as the Empress Picture Theatre in 1913. The Pasaresi brothers, from humble beginnings, teamed up with drapery store owner Thomas Harold and between them demolished three neighbouring shops to build the cinema.

Films were viewed through thick clouds of smoke by audiences of 600 crowded onto hard wooden benches.
In recent years it has shown arthouse movies, and hosted A-list celebrities at question-and-answer sessions. Coldplay’s Chris Martin attended the recent preview of Ian Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, where Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis fielded questions, while Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix introduced Johnny Cash film Walk the Line to Bafta judges there.