Sab Astley

Named after silent era moving picture venues, London’s newest cinema The Nickel has found a permanent home in Clerkenwell. The cinema will open in early summer with a 35-seater screen dedicated to the ‘grindhouse spirit’, which will encapsulate the bizarre, the sensational, subversive, psychotronic and rebellious, from the silent age all the way to the modern YouTube era. One night you could be watching El Topo and Eraserhead, the next a series of Adult Swim shorts with the director himself in for a Q&A.  Those attending a screening can grab a drink to debrief in the venue’s basement bar. The cinema will boast its own physical media emporium, where cinema lovers can pick up soundtracks, posters, books, and even movies to rent and buy in a Blockbuster-style throwback. The Nickel plans to slowly expand from film screenings to live performances and a zine, and it will offer the space for creative work and discussion groups, as well as filmmaking workshops on how to shoot on 16mm film.  The cinema is located on Clerkenwell Road and its exact opening date will be announced in the coming weeks.  Photograph: The Nickel The Nickel founder Dom Hicks has travelled the globe as a result of his love for global repertory cinemas, from London's Prince Charles Cinema and the ICA to the Cine Doré in Madrid and The New Beverley in Los Angeles.For him, The Nickel is a place to offer a film that you may never have heard of but where you end up walking out with a new all-time favourite. ‘It’s