Since the Electric Cinema showed its first silent film, we’ve welcomed the invention of televisions, video games, computers and smartphones. But cinema still remains the beating heart of culture – as the Oscars once again proved earlier in the week. Opened in 1909, what was the UK’s oldest working cinema sadly closed its doors over a year ago, but campaigners have been working hard to save it from permanent closure.
A ‘Save Station Street’ campaign was backed by the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Alison Hammond and Steven Knight, alongside 24,000 members of the public signing a peition. It aims to secure the future of the 116-year-old Art Deco building, as well as buildings like The Crown (the ‘birthplace of heavy metal’ where Black Sabbath played their first gig) and Britain’s oldest rep theatre, The Old Rep.
Part of that campaign was to get listed status for the Electric Cinema and protect it from developers – with fears it could be destroyed and replaced with a 50-floor tower. That bid, however, has now been rejected by the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Campaigners now say this sets “a dangerous precedent for any commercial cultural building.”
The Electric Cinema was denied listed status because of a lack of architectural or historic interest: “The building as it survives today is a blend of the many periods of evolution it has gone, though none of these elements survive well enough or is of sufficient quality to meet listing. While the cinema has some interest as an early example, the historic interest of the building lies primarily at the local rather than the national level.”
So what happens next? The campaign to save the Electic continues as it implores Birmingham’s politicians to list the building locally. It’s urging you to write to your local MP and councillors and let them know how you feel about the decision. To learn more about the campaign to save the Electric Cinema, head here.