The owner of Stepney’s Genesis Cinema has appealed against a council decision blocking plans to replace the historic venue with student flats and a smaller basement cinema.
Tyrone Walker-Hebborn wants to redevelop the Mile End Road cinema, saying the plans are “the only way we can save the cinema”. Tower Hamlets councillors voted in November 2025 to refuse the proposals, which would see the current building demolished and replaced with an eight-storey block containing 291 student rooms.
The plans also include a four-screen, 447-seat underground cinema — less than half the size of the current five-screen, 946-seat venue. Councillors said the scheme meant “the loss of an important cultural venue with extensive cinematic and entertainment heritage”. They also raised concerns about the building’s impact on neighbours and the lack of affordable student housing.
Walker-Hebborn told the development committee the cinema had been “in a really, really dire situation” since the coronavirus pandemic and that he could not afford to keep it open without redevelopment.
The government’s Planning Inspectorate is set to hold an inquiry next month after developer Valor Genesis Ltd appealed the decision. The appeal argues the current building cannot realistically be redeveloped without demolition, and that without the scheme the cinema “will be unable to continue its business on the site”.
Why councillors said no
The refusal rested on more than sentiment. Planning reports described the building as a non-designated local heritage asset — not listed, but recognised for its contribution to the area’s character — and officers flagged the permanent loss of cultural identity that demolition would bring.
The absence of affordable student accommodation also weighed heavily. The 291 rooms would all be let at market rents, with no nominations agreement in place to guarantee that local students could benefit. For a scheme that replaces a public-facing cultural venue with private student housing, that gap proved hard to overlook, alongside the concerns raised about the eight-storey block’s effect on neighbouring residents.
The appeal will now be decided by a planning inspector rather than the council, with the inquiry expected to weigh the heritage and cultural arguments against the viability evidence presented by the developer.
A century of entertainment on Mile End Road
Few London venues can match the Genesis for depth of history. Entertainment has taken place on the site since 1848, when it began life as a pub before becoming a music hall. In 1885, the celebrated theatre architect Frank Matcham opened the Paragon Theatre of Varieties there — a stage that hosted both Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy during the golden age of variety.
The building became a cinema in 1912 as the Mile End Empire. The ABC chain rebuilt it in 1938-39 in the fashionable 1930s modernist style, to designs by architect W.R. Glen, and it later became the Coronet, which closed in 1988. The venue then lay derelict for around a decade before Walker-Hebborn bought and restored it, reopening it as the Genesis in May 1999. He went on to found the East End Film Festival, which ran from 2000 to 2020.
The building even has a brush with royalty in its past. In 1963 the cinema hosted the royal premiere of Sparrows Can’t Sing, with Lord Snowdon attending as the royal representative because Princess Margaret was not permitted to attend on account of the Kray twins being in the audience.
The pressure on independent cinemas
The Genesis fight is part of a wider struggle facing London’s independent picture houses. The pandemic shuttered cinemas for months and permanently changed viewing habits, with streaming services absorbing a share of audiences that has never fully returned. Rising energy bills, business rates and staffing costs have since squeezed margins further, particularly for single-site operators who cannot spread their overheads.
Similar stories have played out across the capital in recent years, as independent venues weigh redevelopment deals against the risk of closure. Walker-Hebborn’s argument — that the student-flats scheme is the price of the cinema’s survival — will now be tested at the inquiry, where the future of one of the East End’s most storied venues will be decided.
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