Here's something different, but not entirely unrelated to the general direction of thinking on this blog. Two of the Barbican Centre cinemas are to be closed on 31 March 2010. Why: a Corporation of London approved property development comprising 69 flats above is experiencing noise pollution! New cinemas elsewhere in the Barbican Centre are to open on 1 April 2010 in two years time! Subject to .....you get the picture.
City of London Labour Party which met yesterday (as it does regularly on the second Wednesday of the month) is getting busy. Is this a fait accompli or a sloppy decision on the part of our elected representatives on Common Council in need of more scrutiny? Why should the cinema-going public be deprived of what is widely acclaimed to be one of the best facilities in London for a single day, let alone for at least two years?
The Guardian reporting the decision reminded readers:
The Barbican, alongside BFI on Southbank and the ICA, is in a minority of cinemas in the capital able to offer ambitious film programming outside standard commercial fare.
Hear, hear..watch this space.