Picturehouse Cinemas is a network of cinemas in the United Kingdom, operated by Picturehouse Cinemas Ltd and owned by

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...

. The company runs its own film distribution arm, Picturehouse Entertainment, which has released acclaimed films such as David Lowery's ''

A Ghost Story ''A Ghost Story'' is a 2017 American supernatural drama film written and directed by David Lowery and starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, with Will Oldham, Liz Cardenas Franke, Sonia Acevedo, and Rob Zabrecky in supporting roles; Kesha appear ...

'',

Sally Potter Charlotte Sally Potter (born 19 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing ''Orlando'' (1992), which won the audience prize for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. Early life Potter was born an ...

's '' The Party'' and Francis Lee's ''

God's Own Country "God's Own Country" is a phrase meaning an area, region or place supposedly favoured by God. Examples Australia In Australia, the phrase "God's own country" was often used to describe the country in the early 1900s, but it appears to have gr ...

'', '' Custody'', ''

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; he, כְּפַר נַחוּם, Kfar Naḥum, Nahum's village; ar, كفر ناحوم, Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It ...

'' and '' The Wife''. A previous iteration of this distribution arm, which focused largely on alternative content, was sold in 2017 to Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire and rebranded as Trafalgar Releasing. The first cinema in the chain,

Phoenix Picturehouse The Phoenix Picturehouse is a cinema in Oxford, England. It is at 57 Walton Street in the Jericho district of Oxford. The Phoenix used to be an independent cinema, and from 1989 the Picturehouse Cinemas chain developed from it. Since 2012 the ...

, opened in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1989, but many of the others operated independently before then: the

Duke of York's Picture House The Duke of York's Picture House is an art house cinema in Brighton, England, which lays claim to being the oldest cinema in continuous use in Britain. According to cinema historian Allen Eyles, the cinema "deserves to be named Britain's oldest ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, for example, opened in 1910 and is Britain's longest continually operating cinema. On 17 March 2020, Picturehouse and all other movie cinema companies in the UK temporarily closed their UK cinemas, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, reopening them on 31 July. A second closure took place from 9 October 2020 until 17 May 2021, due to an insufficient amount of new film releases and a second wave of the pandemic closing indoor venues.

Locations

Current

Former

Planned

Industrial action

In 2014, Cineworld was subject to

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

owing to its refusal to pay the

London living wage London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

to its staff. Started by workers at the

Ritzy Cinema The Ritzy is a cinema in Brixton, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building. It is managed by Picturehouse Cinemas, who were bought by Cineworld in 2012. The cinema opened on 11 March 1911 as "the Electric Pavilion". It was built by E ...

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

the resulting Ritzy Living Wage campaign attracted the support of

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

and

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

. Industrial action resumed in October 2016 over the issue of the

Living Wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor ...

, as well as recognition of the theatre union

BECTU The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017 following th ...

, parental pay and sick pay, and has spread to six Picturehouse cinemas, making it the biggest strike action ever by cinema workers in the UK. Staff at the

are represented by

while other cinemas were represented by the Picturehouse Staff Forum, a

company union A company or "yellow" union is a worker organization which is dominated or unduly influenced by an employer, and is therefore not an independent trade union. Company unions are contrary to international labour law (see ILO Convention 98, Article ...

set up by management in 2003 and later run by Picturehouse staff. Strikes continued into 2018, when workplace reps were found to be unfairly dismissed and were instructed to be reinstated, meanwhile Picturehouse claimed that they are one of the highest payers in the UK cinema industry. In 2019, following a membership vote, the Staff Forum (run by Picturehouse management) was dissolved and later removed by the

Certification Officer The Trades Union Certification Officer was established in the United Kingdom by Act of Parliament in 1975. They head the Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employers' Associations. Responsibilities The Certification Officer is responsible f ...

from the official list of trade unions.

also called off the company boycott stating "BECTU members have now agreed to suspend our Living Staff Living Wage campaign and call off the public boycott to focus on fighting for equal pay at the Ritzy and continuing to challenge the dismissal of other members. We won’t rest until Ritzy and Picturehouse follows suit with other cinema employers we have successfully worked with and treats all its workers fairly." As of 2022, Picturehouse cinemas still do not pay their frontline staff living wage.

References

External links

* {{Major UK Cinema Chains 1989 establishments in England Cinema chains in the United Kingdom Entertainment companies established in 1989 Organizations established in 1989 2012 mergers and acquisitions