Private Cinemas for Hire in London

Costs that can sit outside the advertised rate. Ask the venue to confirm each of these in writing before you commit:

• Film licensing for a commercial title, which the venue typically sources from the distributor and adds to your hire.
• An AV technician or projectionist to run your media, which some venues charge for separately.
• VAT and service charge, which may or may not be included in a quoted figure.
• Setup and clear-down time, which may fall inside or outside your booked window.

Affordable private cinemas in London

The lowest hourly rate for a London private cinema on Tagvenue is £100 per hour, and several rooms are listed under £300 per session.

Two things help keep the total down. Size the room to your headcount, because a minimum spend on a room larger than you need means committing to food and drink your group will not use. And check whether the venue allows you to bring your own catering, which varies venue by venue.

For a very small group, compare a session hire fee against a minimum spend on your actual numbers before choosing – the cheaper model changes with headcount.

You can also browse small private cinemas in London and private screening rooms in London for lower-capacity options.

Which private cinema suits your group?

Capacities on Tagvenue run from 20 to 267 guests. Matching the room to your headcount matters financially as well as practically, particularly on a minimum-spend booking.

Check whether a listed capacity is seated cinema capacity or standing event capacity, since the two can differ significantly in the same room.

The rooms themselves vary as much as the capacities. Boutique chain screens such as Everyman Broadgate, Borough Yards, King’s Cross and Maida Vale offer wide sofas, footstools and service to the seat. Hotel cinema rooms such as Karma Sanctum Soho, Courthouse Hotel Soho and W London pair an intimate screen with a bar and catering. Independent cinemas such as Close-Up Cinema in Shoreditch, Whirled Cinema in Herne Hill and The Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley bring period character and a community feel. Preview rooms such as Electric Space and London Film School are built for distraction-free professional viewing. And event screening spaces such as FOMO House Shoreditch offer a more flexible, blank-canvas room for 100 guests at £250 per hour. If you want something further from a conventional screen, unusual venues in London is worth a look.

Trade-offs worth weighing before you shortlist

Where in London should you hire a private cinema?

Private cinemas and screening rooms are most concentrated in central London, particularly around Soho, Covent Garden and Leicester Square, with a further cluster in Shoreditch. Screens outside the centre are more scattered but include some of the highest-rated venues in the city.

Soho, the West End and Covent Garden (W1, WC2). The densest concentration of screens, and the only part of London with premiere-scale auditoriums. Cinema hire in Soho averages £2,400 hire fee per event, with hourly rates from £216 to £375. Walkable from Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road and Covent Garden. Options run from Electric Space in Fitzrovia at 20 guests and Cinema A at London Film School at £125 per hour, through hotel screens at Karma Sanctum Soho and Courthouse Hotel Soho, up to Curzon Soho Screen 1 at 249 guests and EPIC by Vue at 267. See private cinemas in Soho for the full list.

The City, King’s Cross and Canary Wharf (EC2, N1C, E14). Boutique screens close to major business districts and transport hubs, most of them on a minimum-spend model. Everyman Broadgate has three screens minutes from Liverpool Street and Moorgate, seating 24, 88 and 145 from £575 to £1,250 minimum spend. Everyman Kings Cross sits beside King’s Cross St Pancras with rooms for 30 and 107 guests, useful when guests are travelling in by rail. Everyman Canary Wharf seats 51 from £600 minimum spend, on the Jubilee and Elizabeth lines.

Shoreditch and east London (E1, E2). The second cluster of screening rooms in the city, and the area’s independent and event spaces tend to be flexible on programming. Close-Up Cinema seats 40 from £168 per hour and is rated 5/5 from 106 reviews on Tagvenue. FOMO House Shoreditch offers a 100-guest screening space from £250 per hour. Shoreditch High Street, Old Street and Bethnal Green all serve the area.

South London – Borough, Herne Hill, Balham and Bellingham (SE1, SE24, SW12, SE6). Everyman Borough Yards sits inside a restaurant and bar district by London Bridge, with screens for 89 and 103 guests. Further south, Whirled Cinema in Herne Hill takes 70 guests from £300 per session and is rated 4.9/5 from 163 reviews, and Exhibit in Balham takes 25 from £225 per session. The Cinema at The Fellowship in Bellingham holds 85 guests at the lowest hourly rate on Tagvenue, £100.

North and north-west London – Camden, Swiss Cottage, Maida Vale and East Finchley (NW1, NW3, W9, N2). Local screens across a wide range of sizes. Curzon Camden Screen 3 and Everyman Maida Vale Screen 2 seat 30 and 41. ODEON LUXE Swiss Cottage Screen 4 offers a full-day hire at £800 for 44 guests. The Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley is the largest independent auditorium in this group at 170 guests, from £300 per hour.

Victoria and Battersea (SW1E, SW11). The closest venues to the geographic centre of London. Curzon Victoria Screen 1 is 0.4 miles from the centre, seating 47 from £720 per session. The Cinema in The Power Station at Battersea is 1.1 miles out, with a 137-guest screening room from £1,200 per hour, and describes itself as set up for screenings, listening parties and press events.

What can you screen in a private cinema?

Modern cinemas in London generally allow you to screen digital media you supply – a file on a USB drive, a laptop feed, or a title from the venue’s own library. Analogue formats such as roll film and VHS are available at some London cinemas but not all. Check the venue page and confirm with the manager.

Your own content is the simplest route. A short film, a wedding video, a slideshow, a corporate deck or a game feed avoids the question of rights entirely.

Commercial films usually involve a licence. For a recent release, the venue typically has to source an encrypted copy from the distributor, and the licensing fee is added to your hire cost. Ask for that figure before you settle on a title, and confirm whether the venue arranges the licence or whether you need to clear the rights yourself.

Selling tickets or advertising publicly changes what you need. Once a screening is open beyond your invited group, it is no longer private in licensing terms and requires a public screening licence. Venues that host ticketed events will tell you which body they clear through.

Confirm the format your content needs to be in. Commercial films and most festival submissions arrive as a DCP (Digital Cinema Package), which purpose-built cinemas handle as standard. A presentation, home footage or anything played from a laptop needs an HDMI or USB input, which not every screening room is configured for. Streaming a live feed depends on both the venue’s hardware and its internet bandwidth. Ask about all three before booking.

What to check before booking

Private cinema hire varies more between venues than the headline price suggests. These are the points worth confirming in writing.

Price and terms

• Whether the figure quoted is a hire fee, a minimum spend or a per-person rate, and whether it includes VAT and service charge.
• The deposit, and the cancellation terms.
• Whether setup and clear-down time falls inside your booked hire window.

Technical

• Whether an AV technician or projectionist is included in the base fee or charged separately.
• Whether the system takes an HDMI or USB feed from a laptop, or requires a DCP.
• Who arranges the film licence for your chosen title, and what it adds to the total.

Food and drink

• Whether food and drink can be served inside the screening room or only in a foyer or bar area.
• Whether outside catering, cakes or drinks are permitted, and what corkage applies.
• Welcome drinks, canapé and buffet options, and dietary requirements.

Space and access

• Whether the room is exclusively yours for the whole booking, and whether other guests can reach adjacent areas.
• Step-free access to the seats, the bar and the toilets, which is worth confirming rather than assuming.
• Parking, and the nearest station – listed on every Tagvenue venue page.
• Whether decorations and external suppliers are allowed.