Roll Credits: Paddington’s Chauvel Cinema Closes This Month

The Chauvel Cinema in Paddington Town Hall will close on January 27.

The space, which was originally the Paddington Town Hall ballroom, first opened as a cinema in 1977. It retained its charming grandeur with cinema one still boasting a sprung floor (beneath the seats), an arched stage and barrel-vaulted ceiling.

Palace Cinemas took over the lease from AFI in 2006 and developed the space into a hub for arthouse cinema.

Palace’s lease expires in March this year. The City of Sydney council is set to overhaul the entire Town Hall, which includes Paddington Library and an upstairs space that is often home to packed-out warehouse sales.

Palace had voiced concerns about the state of the Chauvel over several years. The heritage space needed urgent repairs and attendance was low. In October 2024, the council slashed rent for the cinema to help it stay open. 

Palace Cinemas CEO Benjamin Zeccola said that although the cinema’s legacy is notable, the closure was inevitable.

“The Chauvel has always been a meeting place for ideas, culture and community,” he said. “While the lease conclusion and upcoming redevelopment of Paddington Town Hall mean we must say goodbye to this space, we do so with enormous pride in what the Chauvel represented and gratitude to the audiences who gave it life. Over the years we put forward numerous proposals to address the aging condition of the Chauvel and Paddington Town Hall and to invest in its future, but the constraints of leasing a public building meant that vision could not obtain council approval.”

It’s a loss for the suburb, which also bid farewell to the Verona on Oxford Street in 2023. That site remains empty.

“This is a farewell to a venue, not to an ethos,” said Zeccola, who stresses that fans can continue to watch flicks in the “more accessible and comfortable” Palace Moore Park, which boasts four screens.

Rest easy, Chauvel. Paddington cinephiles – and tall boy Jacob Elordi – will miss you.

www.palacecinemas.com.au/cinemas/chauvel-cinema

@palacecinemas