The Screen On The Green

Cinematic entertainment began at number 83 Upper Street, Islington when the Pesaresi brothers ran their original animated picture show in the then vacant shop. After success, and gaining financial assistance from Thomas Harrold who ran the "fancy drapery" store next door at number 82, they bought out Stean's Printers, Fosdykes' Confectionery and Vivian Lester's Sign Writers, numbers 84 to 86 respectively. They demolished the old shops and built a new purpose-built electric theatre designed by architects Boreham & Gladding,[1] which opened in October 1913.

Renamed from The Empress Electric Theatre shortly after opening, the new cinema seated 600 on a single floor. It was originally considered very smart, though by the late 1930s it had become tatty and was compared unfavourably with the new picture palaces of the time. It was however cheap and remained very popular with local children.

The Empress was closed, refurbished and re-opened in December 1951 as The Rex.[1] Its capacity was reduced slightly to 514 [2] and a new single seat pricing policy was introduced, initially all seats being 1s 9d. The reopening ceremony included a fanfare of trumpets from the Islington Air Training Corps.

In the early sixties the cinema ran regular film shows for the local Turkish population. The films were specially flown over from Turkey and shown without subtitles. In the late sixties the local Greek community organised Greek language film shows which ran every Sunday. The Rex closed on 20 June 1970.

The cinema re-opened on 13 September 1970 as The Screen On The Green after being purchased by Romaine Hart's Mainline Pictures Group.[1] It was comprehensively refurbished and modernised in February 1981 to plans by architect Fletcher Priest,[1] one of the main modifications being the creation of foyer space, something the original building never had. This reduced the seating capacity to 300. It was operated as part of the small independent Screen Cinemas circuit until 2008, when the circuit was sold to the Everyman Media Group.[1]

In December 2009 the cinema underwent its third major refurbishment, the main change being the addition of a full size bar within the auditorium space. The seating was also replaced, the new seats being flanked by plush two-seater sofas with footrests, sold at a premium. It has retained the charm of its original barrel vault ceiling, its iconic working red curtain, and the exterior, which is especially noticeable at night due to its neon outline and sign.[3]