Catford Mews – a new three-screen cinema and community hub – is sensitively designed by Really Local Group
Recently opened, Catford Mews is located just below the paws of the locally-famous giant black cat statue, that looks like it’s about to pounce onto the South Circular. It’s an unconventional space to find a cleverly-designed movie theatre. Catford Mews boasts a moody-blue three-screen cinema, a food market, café, bar, live entertainment venue, co-working and exhibition spaces – all in the stripped-back shell of a local Poundland.
Bargains can still be found inside, however. Really Local Group crowd-sourced ideas and comment from Catford residents, in order to provide a genuinely useful and usable community space. And so, popcorn is reasonable, ticket prices affordable, and food from one of the local market vendors is priced for Catford not Dalston. Try Fuse’s fragrant Vietnamese-fusion chicken, and come on a Sunday afternoon for the ‘Family Favourite’ screening for just £2 a head.
Remnants of the old design, remain, too. While most of the floor tiles have been painted over in a classic warehouse grey, a circle has been deliberately left in the middle of the space, where the original orange and brown shopfloor tiles peak through, providing a physical memory of the space’s former life. Elsewhere, familiar warehouse tropes are in abundance, with bare walls and exposed ventilation systems.
Source: Architect-designed cinema opens in south east London