Genesis Cinema: The indie complex

Courier
Startup and modern business stories
5 min readJul 6, 2015

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A roofer from Mile End turned a derelict theatre into the only independent cinema in east London, and developed it into a social and cultural hub for locals.

To correct a commonly-held myth, the cinema industry is not on its knees. In spite of Netflix and affordable big screen TVs, box office sales have been edging up every year since the mid-90s. In 2011, UK cinemas posted a record turnover of £1.1bn, dwarfing the £400m revenue in 1995.

But while the titans — Cineworld, Vue and Odeon — have continued to grow, many independents have either buckled or been bought out by the three, which together control 70% of the total UK box office.

Despite this, an independent multiplex is thriving in Mile End under the stewardship of Tyrone Walker-Hebron, a former roof layer from the area whose story reads like a script in itself: in 1998, aged 27, he bought the derelict theatre-turned-cinema which had been closed for a decade for £250,000. Now, after 16 years of work, the Genesis cinema has 7,000 people walking through its doors each week.

Tyrone Walker-Hebron

Hole in the roof

Walker-Hebron always harboured dreams of opening an entertainment complex for his local community. A love of film was instilled in him by his parents, who regularly visited the cinema before it closed. Coupled with a feeling that the East End was ‘left out of things,’ Walker-Hebron decided to rebuild the relic in Tower Hamlets.

He says that as a roof layer, he was unfazed by the biggest challenge presented by the huge renovation needed, namely a gaping hole in the ceiling of the largest screen. Bank loans to pay for the work reached an excess of £1m.

As well as rebuilding the pre-existing four theatres, he also soon set himself a further hurdle — creating a fifth screen. The idea came after a chance meeting with a Twentieth Century Fox film booker who advised Walker- Hebron that to get the studios to take him seriously and offer up the top-grossing films, Genesis would need at least five screens.

The crucial fifth screen was carved out from a low-ceilinged storage area at the back of the building. Now known as Studio 5, it’s an intimate space with armchairs and a private bar.

Bleak outlook

In 1999 Genesis reopened to a bleak climate for independent cinemas. In the ensuing years, one of London’s oldest cinemas, the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead, fell into administration and was sold by the receivers. It was quickly followed by Islington’s Screen on the Green, which became Everyman Screen on the Green. The dramatic sale of the much-loved Brixton Ritzy to the Picturehouse Group (a subsidiary of Cineworld) in 2009 seemed to mark a deathly milestone for indie cinema.

Walker-Hebron remained mostly unfazed: ‘It never occurred to me that a cinema could fail,’ he says. ‘There were no cinemas in the East End, and I knew from my years as a roofer that there were thousands of people in Tower Hamlets with nothing to do.’

Diversify

However, in 2012, the Olympics and a new Vue multiplex in Stratford began to shake the owner’s confidence as he entered the notoriously difficult summer months for cinemas. It was clear that the only way to survive was to diversify.

He gambled on opening a cafe and, after three months taste-testing coffee across London, Walker-Hebron invested in a Wega coffee machine, employed a trained barista and started selling coffee from Nude Coffee Roasters. A large foyer and outside tables quickly turned Genesis into a popular spot: turnover from the cafe in 2012 was £25,000, making it one of the main sources of income for Genesis that summer.

Cultural hub

Several progressive independent cinemas have evolved into places that are more like cultural centres than just a house of screens. The Lexi and The Tricycle in north-west London have both found success by offering theatre, music, stand- up and exhibitions in addition to their screenings of independent and blockbuster films.

Walker-Hebron has been quick to take up this format, starting with redeveloping the upstairs bar. A new stage area meant Genesis could host live music and poetry nights while film screenings were going on. This has attracted a new crowd, drawing in people who perhaps would never have come to Genesis ordinarily.

The kitchen

Community and festivals

Now Walker-Hebron’s plans are to offer more things that big cinema groups can’t or won’t do. ‘I want to build kitchen facilities so that we can partner up with a new food business.’ At the moment, the food menu includes two London startups: Pieminister and World’s Wurst Hotdogs. Genesis also hosts 12 different film festivals each year, including the East End Film Festival, which Walker-Hebron co-founded.

Turnover has been rising 33% year-on-year since the cafe opened and reached £1.6m in 2014. ‘I thought it would take us five years to build a successful cinema, but it’s taken fifteen,’ he says. ‘Now we’re the epicentre of independent film and culture in east London, and I want to see that grow.’

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