City Screen Announces Hackney Picturehouse

City Screen, the owner and operator of Picturehouse Cinemas, has announced a new addition to their circuit of cinemas - the Hackney Picturehouse, a 4-screen community cinema, due to open this autumn.
The Ocean building on Mare Street in Hackney is being re-developed to create 4 state-of-the-art auditoria equipped with luxury seating and the best digital, 3D and satellite technology, to screen films from around midday until 11:30pm, seven days a week, 364 days a year.
The frontage of the building will be opened up to create a large street level cafe and music bar, creating a friendly and dynamic social hub open every day from breakfast through supper, breathing new life into the building and contributing to making Hackney an ever more vibrant place to live and work.
Jules Pipe, Mayor of Hackney, said: "I'm really pleased that the local community and visitors to Hackney will soon have a new state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of the borough. This is a really positive boost for the local area and will be warmly welcomed when it opens up for business later this year.
"We have lots of young families in Hackney who will, I'm sure, be only too pleased to have a cinema close to home and the prospect of foreign language and art-house films in addition to blockbuster movies will also be of great appeal to our diverse and creative population. Alongside films the venue will play host to a range of community activities including kids' clubs and art exhibitions, and we hope it will become an important hub for the whole community.
"I look forward to City Screen's arrival in Hackney and I wish them the best of luck with this exciting new addition to Mare Street."
Lyn Goleby, Managing Director of City Screen/Picturehouse Cinemas, said: "Our aim is to make the Hackney Picturehouse a really vibrant local community cinema that will become one of the linchpins of cultural activity in the centre of the borough, very much like sister cinemas in the circuit - The Ritzy in Brixton and the Clapham Picturehouse - offering a rich mix of mainstream and specialised film, music and other locally centred activity."
The intention is also to programme a number of live music events, which will make full use of the Ocean's existing music facilities. These will be seated events - using the cinema seating arrangement - and will complement the building's other activities. The upstairs Music Bar will host regular music nights and several of the acts who are regulars at Upstairs at the Ritzy will appear in Hackney.
In addition to a diverse programme of films, ranging from quality blockbusters to independent, classic, foreign-language, art-house and documentary films, the Hackney Picturehouse will also show live HD broadcasts of productions from world-class arts venues, such as the New York Metropolitan Opera and the Bolshoi Ballet, theatre productions such as NT Live, filmmaker Q&As, parents and babies' screenings, a kids' club and art exhibitions.
The transformation of the Hackney Picturehouse will be carried out by architects Fletcher Priest, with Conisbee as the structural engineer.
(KMcA)