Picturehouse Central: what to order and when to go

Picturehouse Central sits on the corner of Great Windmill Street and Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7DH, right on the seam where Soho, Chinatown, Piccadilly and theatreland meet. Piccadilly Circus station is a few steps away. It is a seven screen cinema with a café, a restaurant and a Members' Bar under one roof, and it is the sort of place where the film is only half the evening.

What it is

Picturehouse describes it as a state of the art cinema between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. It opened in summer 2015 as the flagship of the Picturehouse arthouse chain, which Cineworld had bought in 2012 for £47.3m. Booking is online at picturehouses.com, and members get priority.

Each screen is named after a film personality, running from Sigourney Weaver in Screen 1 to Terry-Thomas in Screen 7. A small thing, but it gives you something to say while the trailers run.

The history, briefly

The cinema lives inside the Trocadero building. According to Celluloid Junkie, the site began as a seven screen MGM cinema in 1991, then turned Virgin, then UGC, then a Cineworld multiplex. The conversion to Picturehouse cost £4m, with Panter Hudspith as architect and Martin Brudnizki Design Studio on the interiors.

The big change was the front door. A new entrance on Great Windmill Street, facing Shaftesbury Avenue, arrived with retro neon signs and large windows. It replaced the way in through the run down Trocadero mall. The double height foyer is now the ground floor café.

The Trocadero itself goes back to a Victorian restaurant of that name, and Wikipedia's account of the building runs from the restaurant through an entertainment complex and SegaWorld to the hotel that now occupies part of it. Accounts differ on the exact founding date, so take it simply as Victorian.

What to look at

The frieze above the escalators. It is an Arthurian scene made in 1896 by Gerald Moira and F. Lynn Jenkins for the Trocadero Restaurant. Picturehouse kept it and restored it, and it is the best free piece of history in the building. Look up on the way to your screen, not after.

The café walls. The ground floor café is decorated with illustrations by the artist Patrick Vale. VisitLondon says it serves hot and cold food, coffee and pastries, so this is the easy option for a coffee and a pastry before an afternoon film.

What to order

• Downstairs café: a coffee and a pastry, under the Patrick Vale illustrations, in the old double height foyer.
• First Floor Restaurant: the official site names the classic Picturehouse Margherita and the crispy Korean fried chicken burger. Order the Margherita if you want the house standard, the burger if you want something to hold in one hand and a drink in the other. VisitLondon also mentions breakfast and dishes such as Moroccan pulled lamb, but menus move, so look at the current one before you book a table.
• Members' Bar and roof terrace: the bar spans three floors including a mezzanine, and the terrace hangs over Piccadilly Circus. VisitLondon adds views across Haymarket and Shaftesbury Avenue. Food runs to salads, pizzas, burgers and craft chips. Take the terrace seat if you can get one, with the chips.

When to go

Picturehouse pitches the restaurant and bar for three occasions: matinees, after work drinks and dinner. Those are the right three slots to think in. A matinee with a late lunch upstairs is a tidy Soho afternoon, and an early evening film with a drink on the terrace beforehand suits the after work crowd.

Remember that the Members' Bar is for members only, and for members who hold a ticket. Anyone under 18 is not admitted after five in the evening. Check the cinema information page for access and practical details before you go.

Prices and membership

Membership is where Central differs from the rest of the chain. The cheapest tier, Light, at £6.99 a month (£69.90 a year) and valid Monday to Thursday, applies at every Picturehouse except Picturehouse Central. The venue page advertises membership from £15.99 a month, and Picturehouse's help page says one tier is valid at any time at any cinema including Central, with Members' Bar access. Annual membership is priced as 12 months for the price of 10. Full details are on the membership page.

Tickets are booked online, with the current listings and showtimes on the venue page. The venue page also advertises child tickets at £4.99, so look there for the terms.

The short version

Go for the film, look up at the frieze on the escalators, and keep the roof terrace for a member's evening. If you only have time for one thing before a show, it is the Margherita on the first floor, or a coffee under the Patrick Vale walls on the ground floor.