The Coronet

The Coronet is large live music and night-club venue with a 2,200 capacity located at 28 New Kent Road in Elephant and Castle, south central London, England. The historic venue has been a centre of public entertainment since the early 19th century where it has enjoyed various incarnations as a music hall, a theatre, a cinema and a live music and club venue.

The site was first occupied by the Theatre Royal, built in 1872 and destroyed by fire only six years later. Rebuilt as the Elephant and Castle Theatre in 1879, Charlie Chaplin performed there. It was converted to an ABC cinema in 1928, a 3,100 seat cinema designed by Frank Matcham with arevolving steam driven organ.

In the 1950s, the cinema made headlines when the manager exhibited the Bill Haley & His Comets movie Rock Around the Clock and the youthful audience ran riot. In 1966, with the onset of twinning, the Elephant and Castle Cinema was acquired by ABC Cinemas and split into a complex of three cinemas and also a luxury lounge was introduced. The first film to be exhibited was Bonnie and Clyde in 1966.

After several more name changes, it became the Coronet Cinema in 1981. The Coronet Cinema closed down in 1999, leaving the Elephant and Castle area with no cinemas, but the adjoining Oakmayne Plaze development, due for completing in 2009, will include a 5 screen cinema.

In 2002, a theatre producer and entrepreneur, Dominic Madden bought The Coronet as a derelict building and subsequently brought the venue back to its celebrated and original 1920s decor, removing the cinema complex, reintroducing the upper-gallery design and removing the rake floor. Following a reputed £3m refurbishment, The Coronet was launched in April 2003 as a multi-media nightclub but in June 2003 the incumbent nightclub management company, Heaven (nightclub) were replaced by a team led by Simon Parkes, the founder of Brixton Academy as Managing Director. The venue has hosted many popular live music artists including Justin Timberlake, Blur, Primal Scream, The Libertines, Macy Gray and Placebo. The venue continues to operate nightclub and live music events including Lost Vaguness and regular under-age events for teenagers. The Coronet has also hosted Gay Shame and Lesbian Weakness, an annual event run by Amy Lamé's Duckie project as a tongue-in-cheek alternative to London's official Gay Pride event, although the 2007 event was cancelled due to funding problems.

According to recent press reports, The Coronet recently closed in 2007 due to a shooting incident and the venue has subsequently lost its licence, however this was under different management, Dominic Madden was not involved with the Coronet at this time.

External links

* [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Elephant.htm Theatre History]