Author: She Loves London

7 Excellent Independent Cinemas in London

As the rain tips down on London for another day, it’s safe to say: this summer’s almost over.

Bad news for anyone ambitious enough to suggest a picnic any time soon, but good news for the UK’s female population, who have just been granted another month’s free pass to Tightsville. HOLLA!

Anyway, aside from being able to shield the world from my paley legs, the weather also means I’ve been going to the cinema rather a lot lately. Seriously, I’ll pretty much watch anything these days, as long as it doesn’t mean chucking £20 towards a pretty soulless Vue or Odeon. In short, it’s all about the independents.

So in the interests of spreading the film love, here are three bloody good cinemas you should probably go to when the weather’s crap. Or even if it’s not. Also, I’m being a bit fluid with the “independent” tag on some of them, but they’re all excellent. Trust me.

1. The Prince Charles Cinema

Tucked away round the back of everyone’s favourite tourist trap, Leicester Square, this is where film nuts gather to sing along to Team America, attend Labyrinth themed masked balls hosted by David Bowie look-a-likes, and hunker down in the back row to watch an afternoon screening of films that have just left the multiplex round the corner. They do breakfast clubs and bacon sarnies on Sundays, double bills, themed all nighters (I went to a horror marathon once, it was great) and documentary screenings, Q&As, the lot. this place is hands down one of my favourite places to spend an afternoon in London.

I highly recommend becoming a member (£10 for the year, £50 life), also theirs is a brilliant Twitter account to follow.

Website: www.princecharlescinema.com

Twitter: @ThePCCLondon

Image credit: Ewan Munro via CC

2. The Electric, Notting Hill

It’s a little more expensive than my beloved PCC, and it will require you to brave Portobello Road, but any cinema this comfortable is definitely a goer. Seriously, there’s a bar at the back of the room so if the film’s bad, just make use of the wine holder between the seats. It’s all about the little features in this place, like the old skool ticket booth, and forget flip seats – we’re talking armchairs and footrests. Basically, this is one of the comfiest cinemas I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch a crap film in. Also, pro tip: hire one of the sofas at the back and prepare to hit First. Date. Gold. You’re welcome.

Website: http://www.electriccinema.co.uk/

Twitter: @electriccinema

3. The Everyman, Baker Street

Hiding out next to Boots on Baker Street is this little gem, part of the Everyman mini-chain dotted around London and surrounds. I was well impressed with this one. We went to see Moonrise Kingdom – 5 second review: Go see it. Go. Now! Now! – and found comfortable seats complete with little tables to rest your posh-o glass bottles of water on, in a nice small screening room. It all felt so swish that I even bought popcorn (I never buy popcorn). It wasn’t just any popcorn, though. They had some mad Worcester Sauce and sun dried tomato concoction going on, which we devoured an entire box of before the film had even started. Now that’s popcorn.

Website: http://www.everymancinema.com/

Twitter: @everymancinema

4. The Rio, Dalston

My local cinema is one of London’s oldest. They’re also currently fundraising for a second screen, so chuck some money their way if you can. It’s a proper historic cinema which has this really nice, old school atmosphere inside. They show a really big selection here: new releases, and live events. Once I saw a screening of Hamlet being live streamed from the Barbican. Plus all the food and drink inside is local and reasonably priced, so they encourage you to buy from there rather than bringing your own in.

Website: https://riocinema.org.uk

Twitter: @riocinema

5. The Curzon, Bloomsbury

I’m not sure I could bang on about this cinema much more. And alright, the Curzon isn’t strictly speaking an independent cinema – it’s a national chain – but within this Bloomsbury branch of the Curzon is the Bertha Dochouse. That’s a small screening room that only shows documentaries. The seats are really comfortable and if you’re a member, you get 15% off food and drink, discounts on tickets, and access to free screenings and previews.

Website: here

Twitter: @BerthaDocHouse

Credit: Ewan Munro from London, UK

6. Rich Mix, Shoreditch

Rich Mix is a community charity that holds events, dance, gigs, and also has a cinema upstairs. Which means whenever you go and see a film there, you’re basically helping to make this bit of east London a more culturally rich place. Which is good, innit? They show a good mix (ha!) of films here: new releases, family specials, and events – including National Theatre screenings. So if you can’t make it to an actual theatre, there’s a chance you can catch it here.

Listings: here

Twitter: @RichMixLondon

7. The ICA Cinemas

There are two screening rooms at the Institute of Contemporary Art on the Mall. You probably won’t see the Queen there, but you will see a fairly niche selection of art house, indie and retrospectives being shown. One cinema seats just 45 people, so it’s a nice spot if the idea of a huge Odeon makes you a bit nervous.

Listings: here

Twitter: @ICALondon

If you know of a good cinema I’m missing out on, please educate me below. Or on the SLL Facebook page. I’m bloody everywhere.

28th August 2017
The Good Bits of London: Exmouth Market, EC1

Exmouth Market doesn’t act like London.

There’s lots of places in this city that very much do act like London, like St. Paul’s, the Thames, Bloomsbury’s squares, the Barbican’s walls, and the stairway on the north side of Waterloo bridge that always smells like wee.

But not Exmouth Market. It does the opposite.

Exmouth Market reminds me of not being in London.

It reminds me, very specifically, of a street in Paris called Rue de Cler; one of those short-ish little pedestrianised streets with tables on the pavements, a low-key market, twinkly lights, little shops, bars with benches facing out, and restaurants serving very good meat.

Like Paris, Exmouth Market is good if you’re hungry.

Which is weird because most places in London that say they’re good for eating actually aren’t. Like Borough Market is good for food but not for eating, because before you eat you have to lose your tiny little mind doing the penguin-shuffle behind literally every tourist in the world first.

And Soho! Soho is good for restaurants, but not for eating, because before you can sit and order food at the table you weren’t allowed to book, you’ll have to form an orderly, boring, hour-and-a-half-long queue.

But Exmouth Market is 100% Certified Actually Good for Eating, by which I mean you can consume very good food quickly and easily at the times of day when you – a hungry human being who is literally. about. to. kick. off. if. she. does. not. get. fed. immediately – requires something to eat.

That’s because as this helpful diagram illustrates, this little area doesn’t tend to come up on the London Market Guide Book roll calls for slow walking tourists, and it’s about five minutes too far from Angel and Farringdon for socially active yet fundamentally lazy Londoners who finally came good on their “we must catch up soon!xx” Facebook posts and need somewhere decent for dinner.

So basically, Exmouth Market allows you to do the impossible.

And in this city, impossible is defined as “being able to eat dinner at 7:30pm” in places like Caravan or Pizza Pilgrims, and if not Caravan, then at the bar in Morito, or further down to Santore, where they magic tables out of cupboards and somehow always squeeze you in.

And if all else fails there’s the Exmouth Arms, or Cafe Kick, where it’s fine to skip dinner entirely because you’re smashed on Happy Hour mojitos now and playing table football instead.

Come on, did you really think there wouldn’t be a dog in here somewhere

It’s a good Colleague Birthday Restaurant place too.

Colleague Birthday Restaurants need to be that decent middle ground: not quite Pizza Hut, not quite Hawksmoor, express lunch menu, reliably good food, walk-in table for eight because the person in charge of sorting the collection and card forgot to book.

My Colleague Birthday Restaurant of choice is Paesan, which does all those things while managing to serve the sort of Italian food that doesn’t completely embarrass you in front of Italian workmates.

Cards, plants, and everything else you didn’t think you needed to buy on the way home

There’s also a lot of nice little shops.

Exmouth Market specialises in those small independent shops you can kill 15 minutes in – picking things up, putting them down, and patting the shop dog – before leaving with five near identical hand drawn cards with ducks wearing hats on the front while you’re waiting for your mate.

You’ve got Botanique – which sells plants and cards, and joy of joys: two dogs – and Space, which sells stuff made by Londoners, and has been run by a mum and her daughter since 1998.

Any shop selling books called “Fucking Apostrophes” is alright by me

It’s also got the an excellently named barber’s shop.

So not only can you say that Barber Streisand‘s cut your hair, but I’m pretty sure they’ve also got a cat. Also, once upon a time actual real Barbra Streisand walked past and Instagrammed their shopfront, which is probably the most meta thing that’s ever happened.

#Repost @barbrastreisand with @repostapp. ・・・ You never know what you’ll see driving around London :)!

A post shared by Barber Streisand (@barberstreisand) on Oct 27, 2015 at 5:34am PDT

It’s got a nice feel to it, this little street.

It’s not really London, and not really France.

But if it’s Thursday night and you don’t fancy the Eurostar, you should probably go to Exmouth Market instead.

2nd August 2017
What To Bring To Somerset House for Film4 Summer Screen

Every year, me and my friends go to Somerset House for the Film4 Summer Screen.

The first time we went, it rained – hard – but amazingly, despite our soggy bottoms we went on to have one of the best nights of the year. If you’re lucky it’ll be one of those lovely summer evenings, but even if it’s not, you’ll have a lovely time. Providing you’ve got the right stuff.

So to help the masses, here’s everything a slightly OCD Virgo (a.k.a. me) would would want to know before going to a Somerset House film screening for the first time (and if it’s looking like rain, go here).

1. Get there early

If you’re in a group (or solo and want to starfish), get there when the doors open at half six. After seven you’ll have a hard job finding a big space but might be able to squeeze in, and any later than that you’re going to struggle. My advice? Go down around 6.30pm, claim your patch, and settle in for the long haul. Then throw mad evils at anyone who impinges on your territory. Like the girls next to us did. Mehhhh.

2. Order takeaway pizza

The film won’t start until 9pm, so bring supplies. Order yourself a takeaway from Pizza Express next door, or Pizza Hut further towards Charing Cross station if you’re a massive dirtbag. Just don’t get salad. Film or no film, no one needs that in their lives.

3. Basically, just bring your own food

There is food inside Somerset House, but it’s a bit on the pricey side. Same goes for the booze. On which note:

4. Bring booze in plastic bottles

No glass is allowed, so go for a two litre cocktail of fun. One small bottle of vodka decanted into a big plastic bottle, with 1.5 litres of tonic = a party. If it’s cold, flask it up with some Irish coffee. There’s a Tesco on the corner of Waterloo Bridge if you need to grab supplies (plastic cups all the way), or else you could always just go nuts on the free shots of Bordeaux wine inside. No one’ll notice.

5. Don’t scrimp on the fluffy blankets

Even if it’s 20+ degrees: the blankets. Bring the blankets. You’ll want one to sit on, and one big fluffy fleecy number to wrap yourself in from about half an hour into the film. Better yet, bring a sleeping bag. Trust me. They’re perfect.

6. Don’t be stingy on the pillow front

Bring two: one big enough to prop your head up so you can lie down, and one for your bum. Oh, and that’s one each. Sharing’s not caring, folks, it’s just blummin’ uncomfortable.

7. Go with a boyfriend / teddy bear / friends you don’t mind spooning with

Look, this is one of the best nights you’re going to have all summer. Mark my words, when the temperature drops a few degrees and you’ve quaffed twenty of those freebie wine shots, you’re going to be feeling the love. So while the couples do their disgusting snuggling, all you singles (hollaaaa) will want to be stationed next to someone you can share the spoony warmth with. Cosy up, folks.

8. Smokers: embrace fake fags

Even though it’s outdoors and open air, all you smokers are banished to the outskirts. You’ll be demoted to the back corners of the courtyard if you want to have a puff, so it’s probably time to whip out the electric versions if you don’t want get up mid-film.

9. If someone gives you their spare tickets for free, at least offer to buy them a drink

This one goes out to the couple standing outside who were gifted two of our spare tickets at the last minute. A cider would be, lovely, thanks! Oh…wait…no. lolz! You didn’t ask.

10. Be a bit smug.

You’re at one of the best evenings in London all summer. It’s sold out. Sit back, relax and try not to go to the loo during the good bits.

You’re going to have a very nice time indeed.

Are you going to a Film4 screening this year?

1st August 2017