Close-ups of 16 early West End film venues

Background

The West End has been London’s premier entertainment district since the nineteenth century. By the 1900s, it was home to the city’s major theatres, opera houses, concert halls, restaurants, clubs and department stores. It was a destination for Londoners, as well as for tourists from further afield, and the centre of the city’s nightlife. Cinemas opened in the West End as early as 1906. By the 1920s they were focal points for life and leisure in the area. Explore this online exhibition to find out how moving pictures found a space in the busy entertainment scene ‘up West’.