Why We Love the Lexi

How a derelict pool hall, a freak tornado and a lot of volunteers gave Kensal Rise its cinema.

On Chamberlayne Road in Kensal Rise, the Edwardian building once known as Pinkham Hall is recognisable by the painted text across its red brick facade: “I am a cinema. Love me.” The curious appeal has been enthusiastically embraced by its neighbours.

The Lexi may modestly call itself a cinema, and certainly that’s the heart of what it is. But thanks to the love its volunteers have so freely given, it’s much, much more than that too. An institution, a charity, a hub of creative enterprise in Kensal Rise.

No wonder. The birth of the modern Lexi from its inauspicious state of abandonment has origins that seem almost pulled from the world of cinematic storytelling itself. It’s a story you’d be hard pressed not to care about, especially as a local.

From tornado to cinema

In 2006 a freak tornado bore down on Kensal Rise, damaging a number of buildings and much of the infrastructure. It was in the neighbourhood’s response to this event, and the rebuilding efforts that followed, that the foundation was laid for the renovation of Pinkham Hall and the establishment of a new community cinema.

The cinema’s founder had an existing relationship with the Sustainability Institute near Lynedoch in South Africa. The Lexi was designed to help a rebuilding neighbourhood channel its constructive energy into something that could not only provide an arts space for the people of Kensal Rise, but offer financial support to the Institute. In return, Lynedoch helped the Lexi team make the cinema as sustainable as possible using their expertise.

More than a cinema

This ethos of collaboration and volunteering is threaded into the very fabric of the Lexi. It’s not just the story of how it was founded, it’s the story of how it’s operated ever since. The Lexi has hosted special screenings for carers and babies, screenings focused on Black history, screenings to help people find community around a shared love of film. They screen documentaries about the local area and the issues that matter to its residents. They host Q&As with filmmakers, actors and producers.

And this relentless drive to do more than just screen films has only compounded the neighbourhood’s love for its Lexi. When the Lexi asked for donations to build a new sign out front, it reached its goal in only 14 days: 232 backers contributed almost £10,000. And as the project expanded in scope, it expanded geographically too, though never leaving behind the people who make it possible.

In 2013 the Lexi launched The Nomad, a pop-up cinema that roamed across London taking the Lexi ethos wherever it went. And all the while, it kept funnelling its earnings back to the people of Lynedoch.

Fire, a pandemic and a second screen

Sustainable success throughout the 2010s turned out to be crucial, because it was only thanks to the bonds the Lexi had built that it was able to weather both the pandemic and a fire in late 2020.

Not only did they rebuild the damaged sections of the theatre, they went on to expand to a second screen, and in the years since, the Lexi has only grown more popular and more capable.

And lest you think it’s just its local patrons who’ve chosen to lavish the Lexi with their affections, it’s also the winner of a New London Award in 2023, a Brent Design Award, a Civic Trust Award and a RIBA London Award, to name only a handful of its accolades. Not to mention features in the likes of ArchDaily and Wallpaper. The people have responded to this former theatre space and one-time derelict pool hall’s appeal for affection with plenty of enthusiasm.

So when this iconic, history-laden Edwardian hall demurs, remember that “I am a cinema.” isn’t the half of it. The spirit that suffuses this neighbourhood staple is such that it would never boast of its own success. The Lexi is its people, it’s nearly two decades of work, and it’s a reason to love Kensal.

Written by Alex Walker, lead writer at North by West, with insights from the Camerons Stiff & Co team.