British cinema started in this room. In 1896 the Lumière brothers showed their Cinématographe to a paying audience at 307 Regent Street, and that is the night the industry began in this country. The cinema is still there and still screening.
The single best thing it does is on the first Monday of every month and costs six pounds if you are over 55.
The Monday matinee, and the organ
Every Monday at 1pm there is a matinee screening of a classic film, with subsidised tickets at just 6 pounds for guests aged 55 and over. Everyone is welcome at the standard price.
Now the part that makes it worth planning. Regent Street Cinema is one of only a handful of cinemas in the country with an original working Compton cinema organ, and on the first Monday of every month there is a recital on it before the matinee.
So the first Monday of the month, early afternoon, is an organ recital followed by a classic film in an Art Deco auditorium, for the price of a sandwich. There is nothing else like it in central London.
The room
Velvet chairs, gold coat hooks and an elliptical coved ceiling. Films run in digital 4K with 7.1 surround sound, which is the part people assume a historic cinema will have skipped.
The team has spent a year restoring the cinema’s original 35mm projector, so film on film presentations turn up in the programme. Worth watching the listings for if that matters to you.
What is on, beyond films
The programme runs from blockbusters to independent and foreign language cinema, alongside curated seasons. It also screens theatre, concerts, ballet and podcast recordings, and hosts film previews with cast and crew Q and As.
It is a regular home for festivals: the London Indian Film Festival, the London Breeze Film Festival, Doc’n Roll, the London Baltic Film Festival and Made in Prague all run here.
The history, which is better than the plaque suggests
Beyond the Lumière screening, this room ran early demonstrations of the Pepper’s Ghost illusion, and 14 years of continuous screenings of Alfred West’s Our Navy and Our Army films. It also screened the first film ever given an X certificate.
Then it stopped. From 1980 to 2012 the cinema was closed to the public entirely and used as a lecture hall and function venue. It was restored and reopened in 2015, with the University of Westminster, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Quentin Hogg Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation among the backers.
That is 32 years in which the birthplace of British cinema was a lecture theatre, which is the detail most accounts leave out.
Practical notes
The address is 307 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW, two minutes from Oxford Circus station.
The telephone line is staffed from 5pm to 10pm only, on 020 7911 5050, so a question in the morning needs email or the website.
It is one of only a handful of independent cinemas left in central London. Oxford Street is at the end of the road and the Marylebone restaurants are the nearest good dinner after a screening.
Regent Street Cinema
- Address
- 307 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW
- Nearest
- Oxford Circus, two minutes
- Hours
- By programme. The classic matinee is every Monday at 1pm
- Booking
- Online. The telephone line, 020 7911 5050, is staffed 5pm to 10pm only
- Price
- Classic matinee tickets subsidised at 6 pounds for guests aged 55 and over
- Standing
- Where UK cinema began: the Lumière brothers showed their Cinématographe to a paying audience here in 1896
How to get in
An Art Deco auditorium with digital 4K and 7.1 sound, a restored original 35mm projector, and an original working Compton cinema organ with a recital on the first Monday of every month before the matinee.
Where to go next
Oxford Street is at the end of the road, and Moco Museum at Marble Arch is the other paid cultural stop at that end of town.
The West End shows cover the theatre alternative, and the Marylebone restaurants are the nearest good dinner.
Questions we get asked
Why is Regent Street Cinema famous?
It is where UK cinema began. In 1896 the Lumière brothers debuted their Cinématographe machine for a paying audience here, which makes it the birthplace of British cinema. It also screened the first film ever given an X certificate.
When is the Regent Street Cinema organ recital?
On the first Monday of every month, before the matinee screening. The cinema is one of only a handful in the country with an original working Compton cinema organ.
How much is the Regent Street Cinema classic matinee?
There is a classic film matinee every Monday at 1pm. Tickets are subsidised at 6 pounds for guests aged 55 and over, and everyone else is welcome at the standard price.
Where is Regent Street Cinema?
At 307 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW, two minutes from Oxford Circus station. The telephone line on 020 7911 5050 is staffed from 5pm to 10pm only.
Was Regent Street Cinema always a cinema?
No. From 1980 to 2012 it was closed to the public and used as a lecture hall and function venue. It was restored and reopened in 2015 with support from the University of Westminster and the Heritage Lottery Fund among others.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 198 in the guide.
Last checked 3 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
