The Coronet
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The Coronet Theatre is a large live music and night-club venue with a 2,600 capacity located at 28 New Kent Road in Elephant and Castle, London, England. The historic venue has been operating as an entertainment venue for over 100 years and to this day has managed to retain all of its art deco features.
The site was first occupied by the Theatre Royal, built in 1872 and destroyed by fire only six years later. Renovations were initiated by Jethro Thomas Robinson after the fire, and completed by Frank Matcham, to what became the Elephant and Castle Theatre in 1879, where a very young Charlie Chaplin performed. The Theater was converted to an ABC cinema in 1928, a 3,100 seat cinema designed by Frank Matcham with a revolving steam driven organ.
During the World War II, when London was being destroyed by The Blitz, the building stood strong and was often used as a shelter.
In the 1950s, the cinema made headlines when the manager exhibited the Bill Haley & His Comets movie Rock Around the Clock and the youthful audience ran riot. In 1966, with the onset of twinning, the Elephant and Castle Cinema was acquired by ABC Cinemas and split into a complex of three cinemas and also a luxury lounge was introduced. The first film to be exhibited was Bonnie and Clyde in 1966.
After several more name changes, it became the Coronet Cinema in 1981. The Coronet Cinema closed down in 1999, leaving the Elephant and Castle area with no cinemas.
In 2002, a theatre producer and entrepreneur, Dominic Madden bought The Coronet Theatre as a derelict building and subsequently brought the venue back to its celebrated and original Art-Deco, removing the cinema complex, reintroducing the upper-gallery design and removing the rake floor. Following a reputed £3m refurbishment, The Coronet Theatre was launched in April 2003 as a multi-media nightclub but in June 2003 the incumbent nightclub management company, Heaven (nightclub) were replaced by a team led by Simon Parkes, the founder of Brixton Academy as Managing Director. The venue has hosted many popular live music artists including Justin Timberlake, Wolfmother, Blur, Oasis, Primal Scream, The Libertines, Macy Gray, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Grinderman, The Decemberists, Hundred Reasons, Kelis, Alicia Keys, Caribou, Tame Impala, Placebo, among many more live gigs and parties. The venue continues to operate nightclub and live music events. The Coronet Theatre is synonymous of live music, the biggest club nights in the capital and is now also hosting corporate and private parties.