Curzon today announced its new flagship venue, Curzon Chelsea, on London’s iconic King’s Road. Following completion of the site’s impressive redevelopment by Cadogan, work has commenced on the fit-out of the 20,000 sq ft shell, ahead of its opening in Q4 2026.
The new flagship marks an evolution for the iconic BAFTA-winning cinema and film company, which plans to use Curzon Chelsea as a platform to build on their expertise in hospitality, curation and community-building to establish Curzon as a broader cultural and lifestyle brand.
Curzon has long operated across the full lifecycle of film, from development and production to distribution and exhibition. Curzon Chelsea will combine every aspect of Curzon’s offering in one location, incorporating custom spaces designed to reflect the evolution of the industry – including shifting viewing habits, the growth of multi-format consumption and the opportunity to engage new audiences in different ways.
It also marks a return to one of the company’s most historic locations, where it first opened in 1983. A longstanding part of the local cultural fabric, the cinema closed in 2018. The redevelopment retains the original Art Deco cinema façade, while reimagining the space behind it.
The main spaces at Curzon Chelsea will include:
- The Main Stage – a 300-seat auditorium with Dolby Atmos sound and 4K projection, designed for premieres, screenings and large-scale events.
- The Atrium – a central, flexible space for gatherings, receptions and live programming, with capacity for up to 300 guests.
- Studio A – a highly adaptable studio supporting podcasts, writers’ rooms, workshops and experimental screenings.
- Studio B – a flexible screening and event space for up to 60 guests.
- The Pod – a dedicated, fully equipped audio and video recording studio.
- The Gallery – a bar, café and creative social space designed for informal working, meetings and day-to-day use.
Curzon chairman and CEO Philip Knatchbull said, “Curzon Chelsea reflects a rethinking of the role that Curzon holds at the cutting edge of the industry by creating a multi-purpose environment for the wider creative community. Our flagship location will span film, art, storytelling, content creation, podcasting, live performance and conversation-led events. In this sense, Curzon Chelsea brings together everything we have been envisioning for the future of Curzon and creative culture more generally.
Curzon has long operated across production, distribution and exhibition, but those boundaries are increasingly overlapping. Curzon Chelsea creates a space where ideas can be developed, tested and experienced in a more connected way, and where audiences can move fluidly between formats – film, audio and live events – for a truly immersive experience.
We’re excited to return to such a historic location with a new flagship that will actively promote the creation and exhibition of the very best of British and international art and culture.”
Curzon Chelsea will operate as an all-day destination, maximising the use of the flagship location. Screening rooms, studios, production facilities, a restaurant and bar, and flexible event spaces will operate concurrently within a single, interconnected site, enabling people to meet, collaborate and develop in real time.
Curzon Chelsea is designed to support a generation of creatives whose work spans platforms, from film to audio, digital content and live formats. This reflects a deliberate strategic shift as Curzon builds closer, earlier relationships with emerging talent – including those working outside traditional cinema industry structures – and creates new pathways from creation through to distribution and exhibition.
CT London, the projection studio behind FRAMELESS London, has been commissioned to design an immersive projection scheme for the building. Curzon is also commissioning an artist to create Curzon Chelsea’s first large-scale installation, embedding visual culture into the space from the outset.
Takero Shimazaki Architects, designers of Curzon Chelsea, Bloomsbury and Camden, added, “Curzon Chelsea has been imagined as a continuous public forum, with areas and volumes defined by pure geometric figures that both cloak and liberate spaces across an existing subterranean landscape. Working economically with natural materials, soft partitions formed by suspended textiles achieve maximum spatial flexibility that will support the diverse and interactive programme of film, videography and wellbeing. This immersive environment is experienced as an internal city of unique colourful enclosures – ephemeral in nature.”
Hugh Seaborn, Chief Executive, Cadogan, further commented, “Curzon has long been part of the Chelsea community, and we look forward to their reopening as part of The Gaumont, a landmark mixed-use development designed to celebrate Chelsea’s cultural heritage and enhance its thriving creative scene. Curzon’s focus on not just incredible cinema, but a space for makers and creators to thrive perfectly aligns with our vision of Chelsea as a place where innovators and artists can flourish and complements the young independent businesses now surrounding them as part of this exciting, fast-growing creative community on the King’s Road.”
Follow Us