Pillow cinema team’s £45k bid to restore derelict Castle picturehouse

The Castle Cinema’s ornate proscenium arch. Photograph: Pillow Cinema

Pillow Cinema, which launched The Hot Tub Cinema on Hackney rooftops, has begun a crowdfunding campaign to bring the Castle Cinema on Chatsworth Road back to life, almost 50 years after it closed.

Asher Charman and Danielle Swift, who set up the campaign said: “So often we see lovely buildings disappearing, being turned into flats, or otherwise lost for public use. So we’re chuffed to have the chance to revive this historic cinema.”

Opened in 1913 as The Castle Electric Theatre, the cinema ran until 1958 before being transformed into a bingo club, but later fell into disrepair.

The only other independent cinema in Hackney, the Rio in Dalston, has been a source of inspiration for the pair, but they are hoping to bring something different to the borough.

Mr Charman, founder of Pillow Cinema, said: “In many ways we see Rio as an example that is well loved by the community. But our cinema is going to do something different.”

The new cinema will accommodate up to 60 guests and screen arthouse and mainstream films and host community events. It will use the space behind Eat17 and Spar, which will remain in the front of the building.

Rewards for donations include the opportunity to be the ‘Lion Face’, impersonating the famous movie roar before every showing for a year.

With the right funding, the team hope to open the cinema in June 2016.