Until the ActOne cinema opened in 2021 on the High Street, Acton hadn't had its own cinema since the early 1990s but back in the 1940s, when cinema-going in Britain was at its peak, the area boasted five local cinemas all within walking distance of each other.
Some of these lost cinemas were grand picture palaces built in the 1920s, other smaller ones that opened in the silent era became ‘flea-pits’ as World War II approached. Acton also boasted two 1930s ‘super-cinema’, one of which remains a striking landmark on the high street.
We’ll also visit Acton’s newest cinema, ActOne, and hear how some of the cinema-going traditions of the past still exist today.
The walk lasts about an hour and a half and starts outside St Mary’s church on King Street (a 10-minute walk from both Acton Town underground and Acton Central overground stations). The walk ends on Acton High Street near Birkbeck Road.
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