Nairobi Cinema

(View of Nairobi Cinema taken from the balcony, last row). 

Nairobi Cinema built in 1972. It is housed in Uchumi House on Agakhan Walk. 

I think it was the first cinema to be constructed since the early 60s in Nairobi or Mombasa. No other cinema was constructed during the 1970s to mid 1990s!!

The Nairobi Cinema was usually in the top 3 cinemas in box office revenue and attendance.

Unlike any other cinema in Kenya it had a curved screen which meant you could sit at the end of a row and still see the screen as if you were sitting in the middle!! The projection room was downstairs at the back  of the stalls. This was also unusual. Almost all cinemas at the time had the projection room placed at the back of the balcony. Placing the projection room at the back of the stalls meant more higher price seats could be placed in the balcony!

It had 850 seats. As seen below all the seats were lush red comfortable seats. Royal circle had one row. This was the front row seats in the balcony which was separated from the other  rows behind by a low partition.

After purchasing the tickets you had to climb the outdoor stairs to reach the lobby. If it was raining you would be drenched. Once in the lobby you had to climb more stairs to reach the circle (balcony).

This cinema was leased by ICDC (government parastatal) to the ICDC owned Kenya Film Corporation...it meant new blockbusters from Paramount and Columbia pictures released thru KFC did not have to play at the competitors Kenya and 20th Century cinemas.

Nairobi Cinema operated from 1972 to 1995.  It was a very successful government venture!!

As it was owned by the government it did not suffer the same fate as other historic cinemas. It was never renovated to other uses such as offices and shops. Today it is the Nairobi Film Centre run by the Kenya Film Classification Board. The objective is to facilitate local movie producers.

Metropole Cinema Nairobi

 Metropole Cinema Nairobi

In 1964, the Metropole Cinema opened at Adams Arcade. The grand opening ceremony for the cinema was presided over by the Nairobi Mayor of the time, Charles Rubia.

https://adamsarcade.co.ke/

Sample ticket for the Metropole Cinema:

the date appears to in 1968!

Adams Arcade:

https://nairobifashionhub.co.ke/adams-arcade/

stories about the Metropole:

...the star attraction of the arcade was the Metropole cinema. I only watched a film there twice as the movies were adult rated but we still showed up at Adamsv every opportunity to drool over the movie posters and envy lucky movie goers....Metropole cinema closed down alongside a host of other cinema halls in Nairobi some years after the '82 coup....Oyunga Pala 

http://oyungapala.com/children-of-a-revolution-that-never-was/

...my entire pre-teen years were shaped by Lance Spearman's near eternal battle with arch enemy Rabon Zollo.....Lance made the preferred toy of the time his Beretta "Little Friend" toy pistol bought at a toy shop outside the Metropole Cinema House, also where I watched Sean Connery as James Bond in Gold Finger. The Metropole died and has since morphed into a gym inside Adam's Arcade, Woodley, Nairobi...Sulubu Tuva

https://m.facebook.com/AfricanFilmComicMagazineLanceSpearmanMagazine/photos/a.302526979843106.41812559.287803504648787/302527336509737#_=_

Having missed the movie Airport numerous times I finally saw this movie at the Metropole on a Saturday matinee show. Lucky for me block buster movies in Kenya (as in many countries) would repeat so often in the cinemas in those days. I was struck at how the stalls seats led into stadium style seating, ie the balcony did not have a separate entrance. Years later this design is now commonplace!!