As the new innovation of ‘cinema’ was introduced to London, properties were quickly converted to provide eager patrons with the very best facilities. One cinema entrepreneur was Lester Rosenthal who made an application in 1909 to convert the ground floor of the Golden Bells Coffee Palace and Hotel in Notting Hill Gate into the Electric Palace Cinema.

The building dated from 1861 and was originally the North End and Harvey Dining Room. The London County Council, in considering the application, described the Golden Bells as “a ham and beef shop and eating house” but the building had a more scandalous reputation with the local community. The floors above were used as a hotel, but the register shows that on one day alone, the 15 rooms had 150 gentlemen ‘guests’; in fact they were rented by the hour to ladies of dubious repute.

The architect for the conversion was William Hancock. The ground floor was to be a cinema with capacity for 480 patrons (280 seated and a further 200 standing!). There was also a proposal to turn the basement into a restaurant but instead this became a billiard hall while the ‘hotel’ continued upstairs.

The exterior of the building was a far cry from the plain façade we see today. It was similar to the nearby Coronet with a large dome on the roof.

The Electric Palace opened its doors on 15th April 1911 and the floor plan of the cinema was not dissimilar to that of today, except that the foyer stretched down the side of the building and the auditorium was accessed from the rear. The front doors were on the corner of the building and there was a small circular pay-box and a little crush hall where the current lobby is today. Little space was allowed for the projection box and it had to be expanded within weeks of opening to allow room for the films to be rewound.

The auditorium was (and still is) a riot of Edwardian plasterwork with a heavily coffered ceiling. In contrast the proscenium arch was a very plain curve between the side walls, and the film must have been projected directly onto the wall, as no screen is shown in the original plans.

In 1921 the cinema was refurbished with new seating which cut the capacity to 366. At this time the owner applied to put a dance hall in the basement but this was rejected because of inadequate means of escape and the risk of projection fires from the flammable film stock.

A report of 4th April 1928 on the inadequate staff accommodation noted that "the staff consists of one manager, one male and two female attendants, three operators and a cashier, plus an orchestra of one man and two women.”

In 1931 the Electric Palace was one of the first British cinemas to convert fully to sound, reopening as a ‘talkie’ cinema and changing its name to The Embassy on 27th April 1931. New seating followed in 1934 when the prices were 6d until 7pm and 1s thereafter (a flat rate being unusual for a London cinema).

In the period up to the Second World War The Embassy thrived as a newsreel cinema, and during the war years it was referred to as The Embassy News and Interest Theatre.

In one bombing raid the façade and roof of the building were severely damaged and most of the decoration, including the domed roof, was subsequently removed and replaced with a much plainer façade and a flat roof.

In 1951 the first floor became a theatre club but the basement remained empty. A few years later the cinema was purchased by the Classic Cinemas chain, which performed a thorough refit including a change from direct to alternating current and the removal of the proscenium arch to allow for cinemascope. The cinema reopened as the Embassy Classic Notting Hill and was one of Classic Cinemas’ flagship venues, playing the current Hollywood releases as well as repertory classics. In this period it was one of the few London cinemas to play seven-day late-night screenings and it was a common sight to see long queues waiting outside at 11pm.

In the late 1950s, when Notting Hill Gate was widened, the façade of the building once again changed and a café and sweet shop were built into the front of the cinema along with a redesigned lobby area and a basement bar and offices.

The cinema then began a slow decline with the advent of television; people stopped going to the pictures and all across the UK many cinemas closed their doors forever or switched to bingo.

In its prime location, The Embassy struggled on, screening foreign-language films and in 1974 it changed hands and assumed its current façade and name. The new owners, Cinegate, re-launched the cinema as part of the Gate chain and it became renowned in London as the place to see avant-garde and experimental cinema alongside repertory art-house programmes. Functioning as a cinema club, The Gate was able to circumvent the censorship laws and in 1978 it was the first cinema to show AI NO CORRIDA (IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES).

In 1985 The Gate was taken over by Oasis Cinemas, who refurbished the auditorium to its full Edwardian splendour and restored the ornate plasterwork on the ceiling. The cinema reopened in January 1986 with KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN and has remained one of London’s most respected art-house cinemas since.

In 2003, City Screen acquired the Oasis Cinemas chain, including The Gate and the Ritzy in Brixton, and in 2004 embarked on a full refurbishment programme for both cinemas.

The Gate is now fitted for the first time with much-needed state-of-the-art air conditioning; this has been carefully designed to fit within the grade-II listed plasterwork. The auditorium has been fully re-seated with luxury armchair seats with drinks tables, and double love seats at the rear. There are new carpets and the walls and plasterwork have been cleaned and repainted. Externally there is new signage and a canopy. Internally there a new lobby, with a contemporary feel created by dark wood and steel fittings and mirrored walls, and an integrated bar and Box Office. The lobby retains its Cinema 100 plaque in recognition of it being “one of London's favourite independent cinemas”.