The Electric: Oldest working cinema in the UK reopens

Kevin Markwick loves movies and the old building which houses The Electric

"There's nothing like listening to an audience enjoying a film - when the bikes take off in ET, when Tootsie reveals herself as a man - the audience would explode. Listening to kids giggling uncontrollably at Home Alone.

"You can't get that with streaming. You can't."

Film fan Kevin Markwick has just taken over an old cinema in Birmingham and he's on a mission to share his love of the silver screen.

"I think if there's anything we need to do it's to promote cinema for younger audiences and get them to experience it properly, so they understand what they're missing," he said.

The Electric, with an art-deco frontage and two screens which show 35mm films as well as digital, is thought to be the oldest working cinema in the country.

A big clean up, including all the seats and carpets, is taking place

The old projector survives but the two digital projectors have had to be replaced

But in March 2020, as the pandemic struck, the "red switch" (the one that operates all the machinery) was thrown, everything was turned off and the doors closed.

The owner decided to sell and Kevin Markwick, who grew up working in and now runs The Uckfield Picture House in Sussex, decided to take over. The deal was finalised in November, and The Electric reopens on Friday.

He knew the cinema was loved in the city but was still surprised by the reaction he got when he announced the reopening.

"I put something on Twitter and it blew up," he said.

The welcome he and daughter Katie have received has been "overwhelming".

Billy Wilder's The Apartment will be the first film to be used on the old 35mm projector

The projection room needed a bit of organising

"I think we're not going to get it absolutely right straight away but we're going to try the best we can.

"It was a lot to do to get it open and we're not going to have everything working as we wanted it. But we'll get there. I really need to learn what will work and what is not going to work, so far we've sold a lot of tickets which is really great."

The estimated cost of bringing the building back to life is £100,000.

The cinema has had a few owners over the years, including having a spell under Cannon Classic management

"It wasn't as oven ready as I thought it would be," he said.

Replacing the two digital projectors has been the biggest job and outlay. Due to them being turned off for so long they could not be saved.

"We've been cleaning, getting the bar ready. We've hired all new staff, we're starting from scratch," he said.

Applications for jobs ran into the hundreds, he said.

"The staff have been great, they've been coming in, picking up brooms, doing some painting and sorting the poster boards."

There's a new online ticketing system but the sofas will remain, as well as the ability to order your nibbles and drinks from your chair. There's also new lavatories.

Electric history

• The Electric Cinema opened on 27 December 1909. It showed silent films with piano backing

• It is thought to be the oldest working cinema in the UK but the original building was mostly rebuilt in 1937

• From the 30s the cinema showed rolling news reels from Pathe and British Movietone along with short films and cartoons

• In the 1960s declining audiences led to it showing cartoons and, for a time, adult films

• A second screen was added during the 1980s, destroying many art deco features.

In the future, there will be more Q&A events and the Flatpack Festival (a Birmingham film festival which takes place in all sort of venues) will continue. Even weddings will be catered for.

Opening films include the Kenneth Branagh directed Belfast, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story and, a Markwick favourite, Billy Wilder's The Apartment, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine.

"We want to make this the go-to place for film lovers in Birmingham," Mr Markwick said.

Daughter Katie, who has moved up from Eastbourne to take over the running of the building, said she had not slept properly in about three weeks.

Katie Markwick started as an usher and now manages the oldest cinema in the UK

"My list of things to do keeps getting longer and longer."

Training new staff, overseeing the cleaning, painting and decorating and ordering in new equipment, including new screens, keeps her busy in the short-term but she has an eye on what the long-term ambition will be.

"I can see what it can be and I think we can do it. It will be stressful and it will take a couple of years to get settled but I think we can make it something special," she said.

"We love cinema. We love movies and we love the building. It's been here since 1909 and has seen pretty much the entirety of film history. That is amazing."