The UK’s Castle Cinema is taking over the operation of the former Catford Mews venue in south London, with a promised focus on independent and non-English-language titles as well as mainstream releases.
Trading as The Castle Catford, the venue will feature three cinema screens alongside a community space, a bar and café.
The Castle Cinema is an independent, crowd-funded cinema operator established in 2015, with a venue in Hackney. The Castle Cinema also opened
The Catford venue’s address is owned by Lewisham Council. The council said the Castle Cinema was identified as the preferred operator based on financial robustness, operational experience and alignment with the council’s cultural objectives.
Catford Mews was the only cinema in the south London borough of Lewisham and had been operated by the Really Local Group since 2019. The cinema was closed by Lewisham Council on October 29 2024, with the council claiming the group had run up arrears of over £650,000 since 2019 and failed to pay its bills.
The Really Local Group entered liquidation last year, with its Sutton, Reading, Ealing and Sidcup venues also closing. The Castle Cinema took over the Sidcup Storyteller site in Kent, in December 2025.
It will be the first of two planned new cinemas for Lewisham, following confirmation this month Ireland’s Arc Cinemas will be the operator of a multiplex site in Lewisham town centre as part of the long-gestating Lewisham development, Lewisham Gateway. Empire was originally supposed to operate the cinema, but went into administration in 2023.
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