One by one Newcastle’s inner city cinemas and theatres have closed.
Over the years we have lost the Barclay Theatre in Adamstown, the Century Theatre in Broadmeadow, Everyone’s Theatre in Carrington, the Roxy Theatre in Hamilton, the Regent Theatre in Islington, the Hunter Theatre in Merewether, the Kensington, Lyrique, Roma, Showcase, Strand, and Victoria Theatres, and the Theatre Royal in Newcastle, the Cameo and Savoy Theatres in New Lambton, and lastly the beloved and iconic Tower Cinemas in Newcastle which closed on 5 December 2018.
Iconic Cinemas was established in 2019 to work towards bringing the cinema back to the inner city of Newcastle.
If you would like to be among the first to know about what’s happening at Iconic Cinemas, click here to join the Friends of Iconic Cinemas to receive updates.
OUR STORY
On 5 December 2018, Newcastle’s beloved and iconic Tower Cinemas closed for the last time. The Tower Cinemas were the last remaining operating cinema in Newcastle’s inner city.
The Tower Cinemas are owned by Event Hospitality and Entertainment Limited.
Early In February 2019, whilst sitting at his desk, Steven Pritchard was wondering what Event were planning to do with the Tower Cinemas.
Steven thought “Well, nothing ventured nothing gained” and decided to contact Event and ask them if they would be prepared to lease the premises to a locally owned company to re-open the cinemas.
Event, through their agent, subsequently indicated that they would consider leasing the building for use as a cinema.
This was what led to the establishment of Iconic Cinemas Pty Limited, whose object was to negotiate a lease of the premises from Event, and engage various consultants and tradespeople to provide advice on what was required to re-open the cinemas.
Despite all this, and strong community support for the reopening of the Tower Cinemas by Iconic Cinemas, Event has not agreed to terms for a lease of the premises, and the Tower Cinemas remain dark and deserted.
While still currently in communication with Event, Iconic Cinemas is now also looking at alternative venues which might be used to bring back the cinema to inner city Newcastle.
