Save Our Cinema campaign needs you!

A cinema in Walthamstow is asking for help from Victoria Line neighbours in Highbury, Finsbury Park and Seven Sisters to prevent a historic cinema building being converted into a church.

In an unusual reversal of the norm - North London is littered with deconsecrated churches functioning as cafes, community centres and even cinemas - the former EMD cinema in Walthamstow was purchased by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) in 2003. UCKG has now submitted a planning application but no date has yet been set for its consideration.

A campaign group in the area has set up an e-petition on the Waltham Forest council website, requesting that the building "remain an entertainment venue available to the whole community."

The cinema, with an Art Deco interior designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, is Grade II* listed by English Heritage. The Save Walthamstow Cinema group points out that Waltham Forest is one of only two London boroughs that doesn't have an operating cinema, and that the cinema is the only entertainment venue in the borough that has the potential to draw people from miles around and contribute to Walthamstow's regeneration.

The campaign is supported by celebrities with connections to the building, including Mick Jagger who played at the venue in the 1960s.

1,000 people have signed the e-petition so far, and all local views will be taken into account during the planning consideration.

Find the group on Facebook or Twitter.

Image: secretlondon123