Electric Cinema, Birmingham
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The Electric in 2005
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| Address | 47-49 Station Street Birmingham England |
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| Coordinates | 52°28′36″N 1°53′55″W / 52.4766°N 1.8987°W |
| Owner | Thomas Lawes Media Ltd |
| Current use | |
| Opened | 1909 |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Electric is a cinema and sound recording facility in Birmingham, England. It opened in Station Street in 1909, showing its first silent film on 27 December of that year, and is now the oldest working cinema in the country. It predates its namesake, the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill, London, by around two months. Originally called the Electric Theatre, the cinema has undergone a number of name changes since its opening, but returned as the Electric in October 1993.
In the 1920s, the cinema changed its name to the Select, showing a programme of silent movies. In the 1930s, tastes changed and in 1931 the cinema became an amusement arcade. In 1936 the cinema was bought by local entrepreneur Joseph Cohen. It was rebuilt by architect Cecil Filmore and reopened as the Tatler News Theatre, the second in the city.
After World War II, with television becoming increasingly popular, attendance at news theatres declined. In the 1950s, the cinema changed its focus and became the Jacey Cartoon Theatre. This did not last for long and in the 1960s, it became the Jacey Film Theatre, mainly showing a programme of art house and continental pictures.
For much of the 1970s, the cinema was a shadow of its former-self, largely showing pornographic films. The early 1980s saw a revival, with the cinema taken over by Lord Grade's "Classic" chain and split into two screens. This incarnation did not last for long and in the mid-1980s it became the Tivoli. In 1993 it was bought by Bill Heine and managed by Steven Metcalf. They also reverted it to being called the Electric.
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