Tuesday night, and off to the newly refurbished Rex in trendy Berkhamsted.
Closed in 1988 it was split into a bingo hall and a parade of shops before laying derelict for the best part of 20 years. The recent redevelopment was funded in part by splitting the original building into three parts: some expensive flats; a foyer which has been leased to a chain restaurant with some tables outside in the summer:
and the cinema itself, which now has a much smaller entrance at the side of the building;
Sadly ‘The Rex’ neon sign seems to be broken already:
Once you get past the incomplete entrance you’re instantly transported back into thirties splendour:
The black walls are adorned with art deco shell lights:
There’s a magnificent gold plastered ceiling:
but top billing has to go to the stage:
with its fantastic proscenium arch:
The circle has traditional theatre seating. Downstairs is open plan with cocktail tables:
and a reasonably priced bar:
so you can enjoy a drink at your table and then swivel round to watch the film once it starts:
As for the film programme, so far it looks like a pretty good mix. Wish they’d get their act together with the web site. (Update: they have!) We saw The Motorcycle Dairies which was sold out:.
This was the second time i’ve seen this naturalistic gem which is without doubt now one of my favourite films of all time - see my Imdb voting history.
Fingers crossed it manages to pay it’s way - it’s great fun having such a fantastic place less than 10 minutes walk down the road!
Hi, I stumbled upon the Rex cinema section and was amazed at the work carried out. I worked at the REX as a lad changing the titles showing on a Thursday night and clearing the “popcorn” between shows (thank god they don’t sell popcorn now!)Allan Rees was the main man and Tony the Teddy boy collected the tickets, many a good night were had there.
On the closing night back in “88 I removed the sign REX TWO from the door to the smaller cinema (REX ONE sign had already been taken by Tony and I was not going to argue with him!
I still have this REX TWO sign but I have since moved on from Berkhamsted to Western Australia and found the old sign while moving house.
It looks like they have carried out a fantastic job and Iam sure it will be a great success.
There was I recall a small room under the seating in REX 1 that carries memories of the young girl Debbie who sold the Icecreams but …….thats another story.
Regards Nick
Hi. I was just down at the rex and wanted to show some pictures to a friend when I stumbled across this page.
I was just watching Donnie Darko with a mate and the film couldn’t have been helped more by it’s setting.
Cheers, Joe.
I was tickled pink to discover the re-openning by means of the BBC Front Row review the Thursday before the first night. We managed to get two tickets and I took my mother out on a date for the first time in decades. The Third Man is her favourite film of all time (well 84 years anyway) and I had never seen it from start to finish. Unfortunately that remains true as I was lulled off to sleep for a few minutes by the comfortable chairs and that fabulous score, but I’m getting there.
My most recent previous visit to the cinema was in 1969 when Robin Knox Johnson (now Sir Robin) gave the last presentation of his lecture tour on his single-handed voyage around the world, the first ever non-stop. His final audience was the whole of Berkhamsted School and I had the honour and pleasure of thanking him.
The excellence of his presentation apart, I can identify with the admiration implied above in respect of the stage and the proscenium. Standing on that stage was extraordinary even though I had sat in front of it for innumerable film performances over the preceding years. I had had no idea how big it really was until that moment.
Now it is back in all its original glory, and the whole place is far better than in 1969 when the seats were already worn beyond redemption.
But I don’t remember Debbie, mores the pity.
Hi
I’m doing the Rex website and email newsletter and I’ve just come across your site. I’ve added your blog as a link from the Rex site - I hope that’s alright? Is there anything that you’d like me to put as an introduction?
Nah, I’m just another punter - i’ve updated the page to point to the site. All the best, Paul
Great to see this cinema back to what it should be. I used to go there a lot and I think I remember seeing a plaque on the wall about the film Peter Pan? Does any one else remeber this and what it said? We had great picture palace at Chesham but they knocked it down!!
In reply to Richard Talbot concerning the plaque. If I remember correctly it was referring to the family who J.M. Barrie named the kids in Peter Pan after. Their house was on the site where the Rex stands. It was unvieled I think by Jane Asher who was appering as Peter Pan at the London Palladium - or am I imagining that bit?
Well this April you can see the wonderful FINDING NEVERLAND which altho’ wildly historically inaccurate will give you a great feel for the Berkhamsted/Llewellyn-Davies inspiration - the family moved there to get away from Barrie but he followed them and brought his staging of Peter Pan to the house(the REX) when the father was bedridden and dying and loving, sugar-daddy Barrie supported them all after the father’s and then the mother’s death not long after.
Thank you for putting such good pictures up - I have been raving about the Rex to anyone that would listen since going there to see Closer last month. The point that no one seems to have made, and which for me was the one thing that makes a huge difference to the experience compared to “normal” cinemas, is that at the end of the film (provided you sit downstairs), when the lights go up and usually everyone gets up and files out to go home….. what happens is that all those who had swivelled their chairs towards the screen to watch the film, swivel them back to the table and their friends and you all just carry on where you left off before it started ie drinking and enjoying talking about the film without having to wait to do that while walking along the street in the pouring rain; or in some noisy local bar; or in the car when the driver cannot really fully join in; or at home when you might have parted company with some of those you went with. It is a bizarre experience to see the lights go up and no one get up to leave - but at the same time wonderful and I cannot recommend it enough - it elevates the experience of seeing the film enormously (and you also get to appreciate the really beautiful interior). I expect you get thrown out eventually, but we chatted and finished our drinks at our leisure and had left of our own accord before that happened and we did not feel rushed to leave at all. Talk about civilized. Go! Enjoy! [We also had a wheelchair user with us and it was NO problem, though I recommend asking for the table on the lower level at the extreme front right facing the screen, as there is spare room there to move aside the seat you will pay for]
I now work at the rex, and am loving every minute of it, but just wanted to say that i too am under the impression that the rex site is where J M Barrie created the story of peter pan, at least that is what my family told me when i was a little girl!
I remember the Peter Pan plaque too. Funny really as my great great uncle was JM Barrie. My Grandmothers maiden name being Barrie and they were a long line of Barries all from Northern Ireland.
I know very little about where J M Barrie lived but will know try and find out.
Good to see a Blogger about the REX… I live a stone throw away and count myself lucky!
It looks fantastic
If anything restores one’s faith in the goodness of human nature and a belief in altruism, then The Rex has to be at the top of the list. I used to go back in the sixties (Norman Wisdom in monochrome!) and after moving away from the area was saddenened to see its demise on a visit in 1991.
I was haunted by the sight of its dereliction, but then I moved back to the area last year and was overjoyed to see the restored Rex due to reopen within a couple of weeks.
I am sat on a ship in the Arabian Gulf as I write this, and to have next month’s programme arrive by email is sheer joy.
My aim is to go to The Rex at least once every time I am home, and I tell everyone I know to go there and just revel in the experience. It must never end up the way it was just a couple of years ago. Use it or lose it, as they say, and we nearly did, for ever.
I live in Berkhamsted and although too young to remember the original Rex Cinema, I am so proud to live in Berkhamsted where this amazing cinema is. I have seen quite a few films there and now if I ever go to another cinema it’s just not the same! I love it how the cinema’s site has history, as does a lot of Berkhamsted. Fantastic!
I live in Tring and am totally in love with the Rex. I honestly think this has increase the value of my home now I know this wonderful cinema is just ten minutes down the road. I’ve been in the area about five years and was really getting ‘decent cinema withdrawal symptoms’ after moving away from a City where there was plenty of diversity to choose from. The options of driving either to Hemel or Aylesbury to see some blockbuster I had no real interest in at a souless multiplex don’t even come into the equation anymore. I’ve made visiting The Rex an at least fortnightly arrangement. The atmosphere, comfort and standard on offer is untouchable. And a quality bottle while you’re in there is the icing on the cake. In cinema going terms I’ve never had it so good.
i have yet to go to the cinema but i have tickets for my first visit this thursday 27th to watch “pat garret and billy the kid” sam peckinpahs version i hope that this is going to be the start of many films by this amazing director starting with the “wild bunch”,and swiftly followed by “bring me the head of alfredo garcia” to name a few! i really hope this can happen in the future!
i have yet to go to the cinema but i have tickets for my first visit this thursday 27th to watch “pat garret and billy the kid” sam peckinpahs version i hope that this is going to be the start of many films by this amazing director starting with the “wild bunch”,and swiftly followed by “bring me the head of alfredo garcia” to name a few! i really hope this can happen in the future!
hi I just wanted to say I used to live in berkhamsted (I dont anymore) but it was really nice to be be-able to say 5 minutes before a showing that you would like to see that film
and id also like to say I miss jane and kitty
taa much
afsi :)
Have only managed one visit so far but think it is great. I understand that there is a hope to buy the old Odeon in St Albans and restore that cinema to it’s former glory, all the best.
My wife dragged me along to The Rex a few weeks ago, in the middle of a heavy working week. I agreed to go because it was easier than saying no. She thought I needed to see some god-forsaken, subtitled brazilian movie about an orphan boy.
Wow!
To say that I was surprised when the usherette brought us a plate of cheese and biscuits (avec apple slices) would be an understatement.
Blimey! What a place! Sumptuous, refined - almost opulent, everything about The Rex was AWESOME! To state the obvious, the cinema is an amazing success story. I’m so glad I went. The film (Central Station) was superb, the sound system was top quality and most of all the cinematic experience was beyond total.
We went again two nights ago. This time the film (L’Ivresse de Pouvoire) was not as good , but it didn’t matter because the experience of visiting this marvel of restoration exceeds anything Leicester Square can offer.
Well done to all those whose imagination and dedication have brought the cinema back to life.