Deep in the heart of Soho, Curzon’s flagship venue has established itself as the country’s busiest arthouse cinema. Building on the site of the bombed Shaftesbury Pavilion of 1912, Harold Wingate had planned a sister site to the Curzon in Mayfair, but eventually the cinema was leased to Columbia Pictures and in February 1959 the Columbia Cinema opened with Gigi. Equipped to show 70mm, the cinema was sunk into the basement of a large office block. A generous foyer led down to toilets, cloakrooms and a kiosk, and then it was down another level to the 734-seat screen.

A lack of product from the studio and increased local competition led to Cannon Classic taking over the lease in 1982. Dolby stereo was installed but their time was short lived when in 1984 the cinema became an arthouse venue for the first time under the guise of the Premiere Cinema, opening with John Cassavetes’ Love Streams. This too was short lived and the cinema fell into the open arms of Roger Wingate, who completed his father’s vision by partnering it with the Curzon in Mayfair. In 1985, the Curzon West End was born.

In 1998, the cinema was divided into a three screen complex and renamed Curzon Soho. With a fully licensed bar on the mezzanine level and a Konditor and Cook cafe operating on the ground level, the venue has proved hugely successful, voted London’s Number One cinema by Time Out readers.