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    Genesis Cinema

    4.0 (63 reviews)
    Closed 9:00 am - 11:00 pm

    Genesis Cinema Photos

    Recommended Reviews - Genesis Cinema

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    Lobby
    Jack D.

    The Genesis is a beautiful independent cinema just a short trot away from Stepney Green station. The lobby and cafe welcome guests into a really unique space that's been well thought out and is a dream to any movie buffs. Classic film posters hang on the exposed brick walls with some truly excellent character illustration high up on the ceilings. The small cafe in the corner offer a selection of artisan sandwich, small cakes and wonderful cups of coffee. Certainly the best cup in the area!! The main cinema is a 500 seat whopper but there smaller studios angled toward indie screening and private events. There's also a premium studio with sofas and a bar! Upstairs boats another bar space with seating that's available for stand-up events or talks. Really comfortable venue space that you wouldn't mind loosing a few evenings too. A really warm and welcoming vibe here, so although I haven't been to the cinema since 2009, the next time will probably be here!!

    Gareth H.

    Occasionally Genesis Cinema has branched out to something a little avant-garde. Quite recently they featured a month of foreign films dealing with various cultures that inhabit this area of East London. It was quite a treat to be able to see a stream of lesser known films without having to trek across London. Generally, however, Genesis is a fairly standard affair showing all the films you would expect and not much else. I used to go here a lot as a student and have seen some brilliant, and some not so brilliant, films. But since graduating I am no longer eligible for a reduced rate meaning I have to pay £6.50 for a ticket. Call me crazy but when I was a kid I swear the cinema was never this expensive. On top of this the food and snacks are, as ever, ludicrously overpriced and the seats in screen 1 seem to me quite uncomfortable. This is the only cinema in my area, with the exception of the terrible Stratford Picture House, and as such I'll probably be back, however I'm not too happy about it.

    Gorgeous light in the foyer
    Hannah M.

    I've entirely feared going to a cinema in London after moving down having been told how expensive it is, but I was really pleasantly surprised! Cosy cinema, a beautiful setting with galleties and a bar and good food to grab. When I walked in, it seemed as if it was going to resemble an Everyman cinema, but it was definitely a fraction of the cost! We grabbed cocktails on the bar before heading to watch Jurassic world, and the floor wasn't sticky! Such a rare and wonderful thing to find a cinema where I can wear heels without ankle straps in fear of leaving one in the coke-popcorn gluey amalgamation. My only issue is, the seats do come up quite high, and I am of a relatively dinky stature, so I got to see some curvy chair backs where the bottom of the screen would be. Recommended!

    new James Bond film for just £4 on a Monday!
    Marios F.

    Great cinema hall quite near to Stepney Green tube stop. Monday's and Wednesday's are just £4 tickets. I went for a showing of the new James Bond film at screen 1. Very cute, old style cinema hall; comfortable new chairs; attentive audience! It was a full house (both discounted Monday rate and newly released film), so I was happy to have booked earlier that day online (about 3 hours before the movie). When I reached the cinema, just put my card in the machine and it printed out my pre-booked ticket. I reached about 30 minutes after the starting time and was the last one to be let in -- so don't be too late! On that note, rows are not abnormally tight, so possible to pass through in front of people to get in late to open seats / step out to the toilet; but also not super easy to do so. Overall loved the ambiance, loved the price! Will be back!

    even the rain won't stop people queueing for James Bond

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    8 years ago

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    17 years ago

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    11 years ago

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    9 years ago

    Lovely cinema with great food & bar. The beef ale pie there is amazing!

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    11 years ago

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    18 years ago

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    13 years ago

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    17 years ago

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    17 years ago

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    15 years ago

    My local cinema, great choice of films, friendly staff

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    16 years ago

    Really cheap, good value cinema. The actual venue is pretty run down though, so wouldn't recommend it for a ritzy night out or hot date!

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    10 years ago

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    14 years ago

    Not much to add, except all movies are now only £3.50 at any time of the day on Wednesdays - I dare any London cinema to beat that!!

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    12 years ago

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    Page 1 of 2

    Genesis Cinema Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - Genesis Cinema

    Staff are the friendliest I've come across & tickets are reasonable too, from £3.

    Mentioned in 7 reviews

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    Shoreditch Electric Cinema

    Shoreditch Electric Cinema

    (9 reviews)

    Shoreditch, Bethnal Green

    So this cinema is in a good location for me in terms of it being in Shoreditch. It's also below…read morebusy three level restaurant/salon/store, Barber & Parlour. Very hipster but so busy it does take away from the cinema experience we were paying for. For example, there's signage pointing to a dull concrete staircase that indicates the cinemas physical location, in the basement, but I still felt a little lost trying to collect tickets and buy snacks. One positive is that you can purchase food from the restaurant upstairs to bring down. Unfortunately, service is somewhat chaotic, as was the cinema's waiting room arrange bets for guests not eating in the actual restaurant. We ended up standing in a hallway downstairs waiting for theatre's only screen to be cleaned and re-opened. In our case, this was 15 minutes later than the actual scheduled start time of our movie. The theatre itself is luxuriously spacious. Cashmere blankets were available and each plush armchair is separated by a little table. So snacks are accommodated but no holding hands during scary movies I'm afraid. Things were fine once the movie got started but for £18 a ticket, I'm not a fan of the chaos we had to get through to get into the theatre.

    Comfortable seating for a cinema housed (downstairs) within a building that sells clothes but I…read morecan't help but feel that at any screening you must get the seats within the middle space as the side seats so bend round a bit. Since it's not a deep layout you don't get the best cinematic experience. I must say that the seats on the wide angles are much cheaper but I would pay the extra and get a seat from a more central view.

    Close-Up - Café & Bar

    Close-Up

    (12 reviews)

    Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Bethnal Green

    We popped into "Close-Up" late on a weekday evening. We weren't looking for a specific place, but…read morewe decided to grab a cup of coffee and relax. It was fantastic. It a really chill spot, with good music, relaxing vibes, and a good spot for tea, coffee, or an adult beverage as well. If you don't mind venturing off in the night in the neighborhood, it's a cool spot.

    This tiny shop carries a fantastic collection of cinema. Upstairs is mostly name-brand movies and…read morenew releases, but downstairs is where the more obscure, foreign, short, and documentary titles are - and where the real gems are to be found. I've never before encountered a video store with so much space dedicated to artists' biographies and retrospectives, nor such a vast collection of short compilations. They also have a cherry picked collection of documentaries - I have trouble not taking the entire shelf home with me when I pay a visit since they've got so many that sound intriguing and got top-marks at film festivals (Sundance, Cannes, Toronto), but for whatever reason, never made it into the popular distribution a la Michael Moore (though they have him too). Oh, and of course, it goes without saying that their classics section is also phenomenal - complete with companion book volumes upstairs on sale to go along with certain particularly notable films - for the true cinephiles. The staff is uber knowledgeable about what's in the store's collection - it's clear to see that these are the types that breathe, sleep, and dream film. And the prices are pretty reasonable - especially if you go for the unlimited rental option, which only costs £20 (otherwise, it's £3 per rental). *Only* complaint is that the films are organized by directors... which I'm sure is totally intuitive for die-hard film lovers... but not always so much for those of us who are a little less erudite - I mean, I appreciate the education I've received on this matter and all as a result... but it's not always the most convenient!

    Hot Tub Cinema - View from the rooftop

    Hot Tub Cinema

    (2 reviews)

    Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Bethnal Green

    Summer in London simply doesn't get any better than this: after this experience, there is only one…read moreway to watch a film: in your short shorts, and in a hot tub. Set on a quaint rooftop in Shoreditch, Hot Tub Cinema really was as awesome as it sounds. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the very amicable and helpful staff (and anybody who likes my dress is instantly awesome in my eyes). The movie didn't kick off until it started to get dark, so this gave us plenty of time to wander around the place, enjoy the rooftop views and grab a few bevvies before it was time to get wet. As there were 10 of us, we were 'upgraded' to one of the larger private tubs. We were initially worried that it would be a tight squeeze, but as nobody in our group was a fatty, it ended up being quite cozy. There were two large screens at opposite ends of the roof, so everybody had a good view of the film. The staff also came round pretty frequently for tub-side service for food and drink orders. After the film, there was half an hour of party time in the tubs and then we were turfed out into the Shoreditch streets. The main downside was that it was quite a pricey night: £30 a ticket, and then at least another £30 on drinks/food. You pay for everything in tokens - the idea (they claim) is to avoid getting your money wet, but as with anything where 'real money' isn't involved during the actual purchase, you end up spending a lot as you quickly lose track of how much each token is worth. Would advise keeping all your stuff in the cloakroom - I left my bag slightly too close to the tub, and everything was soaked - ended up leaving my towel there and it was pretty unless at that point! We were lucky that we went during the unexpected heatwave as it does get pretty nippy when you step out of the hot tub, and as the film finishes around 10, and you only get 30 minutes of party time afterwards, it can end up being quite a short night after all the hype! This was a bit of a shame, as as everyone was in a pretty good mood and tanked up after the film so it would be have been good fun to continue the party on the roof. All in all, a great night. Would absolutely love to go again, but would be slightly hesitant to go outside of July/August because of the unpredictable British weather and the hefty price tag. It was definitely a fun experience and a great laugh especially with a good film playing- go in a big group as this is definitely not a 'date night' suggestion unless you enjoy conga-lining and people jumping into your tub!

    Maybe I wasn't drunk enough, but my experience of the super-hyped, hotly-anticipated and…read moreoutrageously overpriced Hot Tub Cinema left everything to be desired. 8 of us purchased the group ticket option at £29 per person - pretty steep, but who's going to pass up the promise of attentive beverage service whilst sitting in a hot tub enjoying an excellent (surprise) film? First off, the email confirmation we received listed a food & drink menu, complete with associated prices. According to the hosts, as the event used to be BYOB, they wanted to keep prices low for their patrons. However, when we arrived at the venue, everything was more expensive (a beer - half a plastic cup of unspecified beer - was £4 instead of £3, etc) and the tokens were worth less. When I inquired at the token exchange table, the host said "yeah the email was wrong." Cool. Fanks. As a hot tub experience, it was horrendous - the space was a sort of dark cramped warehouse, and the hot tubs provided DEFINITELY weren't designed for 8 people; it was a struggle for us to cram our bodies into a tight circle in the inflatable tub (no bubbles, btw) and although they'd set up 2 screens facing each other (presumably so people at different angles in the circle could contort their bodies to see the movie) it was far from relaxing - and one of the screens cut out (and stayed out) 3 minutes into the film. When I say "film", I of course mean "video" - the surprise movie was being played on somebody's laptop; frequently throughout the viewing the video would stop and we'd have a nice long look at the presenter's Macbook desktop background - and when the movie resumed, we would have missed everything between the points of interruption. Finally, the sound was atrocious - people in my tub were asking each other "did they not conduct a soundcheck?" because as terrible as the acoustics were in the echoey, high-ceilinged warehouse, the presenters' only solution was apparently to crank the volume up as high as it would go - resulting in ear-splitting sound effects (a door slamming, a car engine) and practically inaudible dialogue. The tub-side-service throughout the movie was OK - their token system (allowing actual wallets to be stored in the cloakroom) was fairly effective, but (and should I really be surprised at this point?) they were out of almost everything listed on the menu sent by email, so when someone ordered caramel popcorn they were instead brought salted - and after it was handed to them in the moist, dark environment, the "waiter" would say "it's all we have tonight." Only one member of our party actually ordered an "entree" (hotdog) and said it was bad. After the video ended they turned on some music (Gangnam Style, etc.) and all the wasted hipsters gyrated happily in their tubs for about another hour. In concept, Hot Tub Cinema is amazing. In reality, a huge waste of money, and ultimately just kind of depressing. Maybe since we went "off-season" we missed out on the magic that would be a rooftop viewing? If you go I'd recommend getting nice & drunk beforehand, checking your high expectations at the door, trying to get into a tub with fewer than 6 people, and not getting too hung up on the idea of actually being able to watch a movie. Hot Tub Cinema's tagline is "AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE" - and I agree; I just wish it were in a good way.

    Genesis Cinema - movietheaters - Updated May 2026

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