Most people associate Clevedon with our beautiful Grade II listed Pier and the magnificent Curzon Cinema and Arts which celebrated its 106th anniversary this year. Both are of great historical importance, both have been enjoyed by generations of Clevedon people and both have developed into multi-dimensional centres for the arts and entertainment.

The Curzon goes from strength to strength, it attracted 74,000 visitors last year, an increase of about 6,500 on 2016 and it looks as though it will be a similar success story for 2018.

The Curzon team, mainly consisting of volunteers pride themselves on their full programme.

They have all the latest releases but they also have the Curzon Specials which tend to take place fortnightly on Sunday evenings. These screenings provide an alternative to the main programme and reflect their commitment to showing the best in Hollywood, art house, foreign language and documentary film making. They show satellite screenings which include theatre, concerts and Q&As and are screened both live and as recorded “encore” screenings. Silver Screenings take place once a month at 1pm and include popular films that you may have missed first time round.

Being inclusive is of extreme importance to the Curzon team.  They have special sessions for parents with babies, those with impaired hearing, those with dementia, children and more recently have added autism friendly screenings. Their Front Room Cinema project set up in 2017 whereby they take the cinema out, has translated to 18 screenings and entertained more than 350 elderly people, adults with learning disabilities and youngsters from Children’s Hospice South West.

Alongside the imposing crimson and gold auditorium with its exquisite Art Deco decorations and its 1930s Christie theatre organ, the Curzon has a lounge bar, serving drinks and snacks, with public wifi, and workshop and meeting spaces all available for hire.

As well as the impressive film programme the Curzon boasts  live comedy, music and performance throughout the year. In 2017, we attended a fascinating talk by Ken Loach who introduced his award winning film I, Daniel Blake with a Q & A at the end. In 2017 we also attended a very poignant, two hour comedy performance from the comedian Mark Steel: Who do I think I am? as well as a fascinating talk from Joe Swift, a regular columnist for The Times and Gardeners’ World magazine whose TV credits include Gardeners World and the RHS Chelsea Flower show.

Is it really much more than a cinema? I think so!

Find out more about the Curzon here: