The Richmond Filmhouse is an intimate 144-seat cinema with a bar and access for all – and is now back on its feet after a fire in January forced it to close for four months,.

It has maintained a grassroots attachment to the local community thanks to student film projects, children’s parties and hosting audience question and answer sessions with the likes of Richard E Grant and Peter Greenaway.

“Our involvement with the local community is also reflected in the cinema’s membership scheme,” explains Julian Bates, who does press and marketing. Not only are members treated to reduced tickets and advance notice of forthcoming features across all Curzon Cinemas, but they’re also entitled to special offers at a number of Richmond restaurants, bars and businesses.

The site of the Filmhouse was once part of a larger cinema called The Gaumont (originally the New Royalty). It was actually one of five cinemas catering for Richmond’s movie-loving masses between the turn of the century and 1980s. Entry to The Gaumont was via an ornate Georgian town house that’s now a dental surgery and a Mexican Restaurant on Hill Street. When The Gaumont closed, as part of the redevelopment of the Richmond riverside, a council covenant decreed that the site would still house a cinema.

In the late 80s owner Philip Knatchbull enlisted the help of the Twickenham Film Studios along with moviemakers Richard Attenborough and David Puttnam to provide local filmgoers with an independent arthouse cinema.

This successful and much respected local asset earned the award of Best Neighbourhood Cinema 2005 in a competition run by The Independent newspaper and LBC radio.