The Electric Cinema celebrates its 110th birthday with series of tours  

With the UK’s oldest working picture house still going strong a decade after its centenary, the Electric Cinema is ready to welcome film fans on more tours of its incredible history

The Electric Cinema on Station Street is ready to celebrate an incredible 110 years.

The two-screen picture house with original Art Deco features and handmade cakes proudly remains the oldest working cinema in the UK.

The Electric first opened on December 27, 1909 – 21 years before city entrepreneur Oscar Deutsch opened what would become the first Odeon cinema at 271 Birchfield Road, Perry Barr, on August 4, 1930.

With its mixture sofas and traditional seats, hand made treats and carefully selected alcoholic beverages reflecting film themes, The Electric has survived two World Wars as well as numerous changes in taste, fashion and politics.

But it’s still going strong as an independent despite 21st century competition from giant multiplexes like Cineworld sites in Broad Street and Resorts World NEC, Vue Star City and Odeon Luxe Broadway – with the company which Oscar Deutsch founded in Brum now the biggest cinema exhibitor in Europe.

Screen 1 has just 108 seats (24 sofa, 82 standard) and Screen 2 has 78 seats (12 sofa, 66 standard) but annual admissions had increased ten fold to 50,000 by the time of the 2009 centenary celebrations.

When the building was acquired by Tom Lawes in 2003/4 it was a crumbling shell with a leaking roof and a basement piled high with rubbish before he turned it round with a £750,000 investment.

“I asked myself: ‘Do people not want to watch specialist movies in Birmingham?’, or is it the fact that the venues are just not run very well,” says Tom.

The cinema today regularly holds themed nights for classic movies, Q&As, comedy night and it even has a wedding licence, too.

Source: The Electric Cinema celebrates its 110th birthday with series of tours – Birmingham Live