Luxe Cinema

The Luxe Cinema is a single-screen cinema and community arts venue on Alexandra Road in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England. It occupies a former Women's Institute hall and opened in March 2009 after the building was converted for cinematic use. The venue was conceived as a more intimate and premium alternative to a conventional multiplex, using leather armchairs, two-seat sofas and premier sofas with service to create a lounge-like viewing experience. A licensed bar forms part of the offer. The cinema opened at a time when Wisbech had lost its previous operating cinema. The former Unit One, earlier known as the Hippodrome, had been demolished during the 1980s to make way for the Horsefair shopping-centre development, leaving the town without a comparable local venue until The Luxe opened. Its Alexandra Road location places it within Wisbech's wider Cultural Quarter, near the Angles Theatre, the former Selwyn Theatre, Wisbech & Fenland Museum, Wisbech Library, Wisbech Castle, St Peter's Church and The Crescent. Although primarily a film exhibitor, The Luxe has also operated as a small-scale cultural and community venue. Its programme has included festival events, independent-film screenings with filmmaker discussions, children's creative-media projects and special presentations of historically significant film material. Examples include a Brinks Festival event in 2015, a screening of the independently produced Fenland film The Goob followed by a question-and-answer session, and a 2016 presentation of animated films made by pupils from Leverington Primary Academy. The venue also hosted a 2018 screening of the digitally remastered First World War documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. Ownership changed in August 2017, when The Luxe became part of the Picturedrome cinema group. The group operates cinemas in several British towns, while The Luxe remained a local, single-screen venue rather than being converted into a large multiplex. In March 2019, it launched Wisbech: Made in Minecraft, a project that represented the town in a virtual environment and reflected the cinema's broader role in local cultural programming. The cinema's identity is therefore based on a combination of premium seating, hospitality, film exhibition and community engagement rather than scale.

The Luxe Cinema was established in a former Women's Institute hall on Alexandra Road in Wisbech and opened in March 2009. The conversion created a cinema deliberately styled around comfort and hospitality, with leather armchairs, two-person sofas and premier sofas offering service. A licensed bar complemented the viewing experience. The venue's design and operating model distinguished it from a standard community cinema or large multiplex. Its opening restored a dedicated cinema presence to Wisbech after the town's previous operating venue, Unit One, had closed and been demolished in the 1980s. Unit One had previously operated as the Hippodrome, but its site was cleared for the Horsefair shopping-centre development, which opened in 1988. The Luxe therefore filled a local cultural and entertainment gap. Its location on Alexandra Road is part of an area commonly identified as Wisbech's Cultural Quarter, close to the Angles Theatre, the former Selwyn Theatre, Wisbech & Fenland Museum, Wisbech Library, Wisbech Castle, St Peter's Church and The Crescent. The venue's programme has extended beyond routine commercial film exhibition. During the 2015 Brinks Festival, it hosted The Secret World of Charles Darwin, a performance by Ian Keebler. That year it also screened The Goob, an award-winning independent film made across the Fens, followed by a question-and-answer session involving director Guy Myhill and Martin Ferguson. In 2016, pupils from Leverington Primary Academy created animated films through a children's arts-award project with Trinity House; the finished work was presented at an official screening at the cinema in June. In August 2017, ownership changed and The Luxe joined the Picturedrome cinema group. The group included cinemas in Blackwood, Bognor Regis, Clacton-on-Sea, Devizes, Dorchester, Wednesbury and Westgate-on-Sea. Despite joining a broader cinema organisation, The Luxe continued to be described as a single-screen cinema, retaining its local and intimate character rather than becoming a multi-screen complex. The cinema continued to host historically and culturally oriented presentations. In October 2018 it showed They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson's digitally remastered treatment of First World War footage, in the period leading up to the centenary of the war's conclusion. In March 2019, the venue launched Wisbech: Made in Minecraft, a project by Bunny Schindler and Adam Clarke that recreated the town in a virtual setting. Other community groups associated with the venue have included a games club, the poetry group Wisbech Stanza and the Friends of Wisbech & Fenland Museum. These activities demonstrate The Luxe's dual role as a cinema and a modest arts and community centre.

• 2019

  Wisbech: Made in Minecraft

  [1]The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org

  The Luxe launches a project depicting Wisbech in Minecraft, created by Bunny Schindler and Adam Clarke.

• 2018

  They Shall Not Grow Old screening

  [1]The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org

  The cinema presents the digitally remastered First World War film They Shall Not Grow Old.

• 2017

  Joins Picturedrome Cinemas

  [1]The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org

  Following an ownership change in August, The Luxe becomes part of the Picturedrome cinema group.

• 2016

  Children's animation screening

  [1]The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org

  Films created by Leverington Primary Academy pupils through a children's arts-award project are screened at an official June event.

• 2015

  Brinks Festival and The Goob events

  [1]The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org

  The cinema hosts a Brinks Festival performance and screens the independent Fenland film The Goob with a filmmaker question-and-answer session.

• 2009

  The Luxe Cinema opens

  [1]The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org

  A former Women's Institute hall on Alexandra Road in Wisbech is converted into a luxury-style cinema and opens in March.

A boutique, hospitality-led local cinema that combines premium seating and bar service with independent film, special-event programming and community arts activity.

• Cinema exhibition · 2009

  Mainstream and independent film screenings

  The Luxe operates as a local single-screen cinema showing feature films alongside selected independent productions. Its programme has also included films connected to the Fenland region and screenings supported by filmmaker discussions, giving the venue a role beyond routine commercial exhibition.

• Cinema experience · 2009

  Premium cinema seating and hospitality

  The venue's distinguishing customer proposition is its luxury-style interior, including leather armchairs, two-seat sofas and premier sofas with service. A licensed bar supports the hospitality-led experience and helps position the cinema as an intimate alternative to a conventional multiplex.

• Arts and community events · 2015

  Special-event and community programming

  The Luxe has hosted festival performances, filmmaker Q&As, school media projects, historical film presentations, games activities, poetry events and museum-related community groups. This programming makes the venue a small arts centre as well as a cinema.

• 2019Wisbech: Made in Minecraft

  Wisbech · United Kingdom

  The Luxe launched a digital culture project in which Wisbech was recreated in Minecraft by Bunny Schindler and Adam Clarke.

  Outcome. The project presented the town through an interactive digital medium and illustrated The Luxe's support for locally focused creative work.

  Source
• 2016Leverington Primary Academy children's arts project

  Wisbech · United Kingdom

  Leverington Primary Academy pupils made animated films through a children's arts-award project with Trinity House, with The Luxe hosting the official screening in June.

  Outcome. The project gave local pupils a public cinema presentation for their work and reinforced the venue's community-arts function.

  Source
• 2015Brinks Festival programme

  Wisbech · United Kingdom

  The Luxe participated in the 2015 Brinks Festival by hosting The Secret World of Charles Darwin, a performance by Ian Keebler.

  Outcome. The event expanded the venue's role from film exhibition into local festival and performing-arts programming.

  Source

• 2017

  Join the Picturedrome cinema groupM&A

  Background

  The cinema underwent an ownership change in August 2017.

  Action taken

  The Luxe became part of Picturedrome Cinemas, a group operating venues in several British towns.

  Aftermath

  The cinema remained a single-screen local venue within the larger group.

  Source

• 2009

  Adopt a luxury single-screen cinema modelStrategy

  Background

  Wisbech had lost its previous operating cinema, while the new venue occupied a converted community hall in the town's Cultural Quarter.

  Action taken

  The operator created an intimate cinema with leather armchairs, sofas, premier seating with service and a licensed bar rather than a conventional large multiplex format.

  Aftermath

  The Luxe established a boutique, hospitality-led identity and later continued as a single-screen venue.

  Source

1. 1The Luxe Cinemaen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Wisbech: Made in Minecraftgithub.com