London Secret Cinema – Cinema Extreme

A little bored with your local Cinema?

Well, how about watching your favorite movie in a London bar or pub. There’s a growing trend in London where a pub or bar turns for the night into a secret cinema club showing cult classics and modern films on screen so you can enjoy a pint to wash down your popcorn. This is a familiar and good alternative to multiplex screens.

I was with my boyfriend one night in Clapham after a really good meal with friends at the Tsunami Sushi restaurant. We decided to have a quick drink to end a lovely evening and headed to The Belle Vue pub close to Clapham Common. It was a Sunday evening, around 8pm, and were surprised when we stumbled through the door. Expecting the standard pub atmosphere of chatter, laughter and pints of beer being pulled, instead we were greeted by what looked like a secret cinema club! People were glued to the big screen, watching the cult classic Top Gun. Not a word was spoken as people held pints of beer in one hand and dunked in popcorn with their right!

We were blown away by a cool event we happened to come across. After speaking with the bar manager I understand that this is a new trend hitting London where pubs and bars turn into cinemas at night. To add freshness to the world of pubs and bars, they turn to movie nights in bars. This is a fantastic idea and adds a whole new spin to going to your local pub. Movie nights in London pubs can vary, but most feature cult classics you haven’t seen in years but put a big smile on your face. This is a great opportunity to go out with your friends and get together for a laugh while watching a movie in a quirky and intimate space. For me it combines my two great loves, movies and beer!

London Cinema

After my first London bar movie night experience I wanted more. I did a little research on the internet and found a few other London bars showing movie nights. The next one I checked was The Roxy on London Bridge. This is a really cool bar that doubles up as a movie playback. They put up all kinds of independent films as well as cult classics. There is a fantastic screen behind the bar with sofas and armchairs for you to sit and enjoy a movie. They serve food and drinks while you watch a movie so this is really a fantastic place to watch a movie in London.

Another fantastic movie night at a London bar I found was at The Grand Union in Brixton. This bar has one of the best beer gardens in London and throughout the spring and summer they host movie nights in the garden. They have a big screen in the beer garden so you can sit outside and watch a movie, enjoying the warm weather sipping cocktails while the movie is playing. This is one of my favorite movie nights at a London bar. They wear cult films so expect films like Cool Running’s, Top Gun, Scream and Taxi Driver.

These London pub movie nights are popping up all over London, so stay tuned for more London bar movie nights and let me know if you find them!