The old North London Polytechnic building

• “CINEMA coming soon” – for months we’ve been excited about this promise emblazoned on the hoarding around the site of the old North London Polytechnic building on the corner of Prince of Wales Road and Kentish Town Road.

How thrilling that Kentish Town was once again to get its own palace of dreams. Roll out the red carpet. Pass the popcorn!

But hold on. Now we learn that the plan to open a cinema as part of a new 12-apartment conversion of the building, last used as a Pizza Express restaurant, have been abandoned – after the developer had largely demolished the Art Deco interior and put the whole site up for sale.

Promising a cinema always looked suspiciously like a ruse to get planning permission that would otherwise probably not have been readily granted.

Surely a cursory glance by Camden’s planners at the economics of cinema operation would have shown that a small single-screen could hardly be viable given potential staff costs and the trend towards on-demand movies at home. Rival screens in Camden abound. Was a proper financial assessment ever carried out, or was it just a naïve bit of La La Land wishful thinking?

On the other hand, we don’t know exactly how hard the developers tried to find an operator, since the cinema would take up valuable residential space. Either way it is not surprising people feel duped. Now the gutted building remains gloomily shrouded in scaffolding while a new developer is sought; and it looks like the picture house dream will never be realised. A shame since it would have been a perfect partial use for one of Kentish Town’s favourite buildings.

But while we may have to forgo this community asset, the council must not renege on its other commitment – that if there’s not going to be a cinema, then the developers can’t plonk a controversial extra floor on top of this classic building. This is what the planning permission stipulates.

To back down would simply encourage other developers who promise all sorts of goodies and then force the planners to roll over when they don’t deliver.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS
Rochester Terrace Gardens Residents’ Association