Latest news with #TheNickel
Time Out
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
‘You have to be a bit mad to try this': inside London's most daring new cinema
If you walk down Clerkenwell Road, a red building will catch your eye. It's a bazaar of the bizarre, a shrine to the shocking. Welcome to The Nickel, London's newest – and cultiest – cinema. A DIY affair, it's owned and operated by Dominic Hicks, a movie aficionado who has travelled the globe's repertory cinema scene, from New York to LA, Barcelona to Japan. The Nickel Cinema began life in October 2023 as a pop-up in pubs like Camberwell's The Bear, before expanding to The Cinema Museum, Jamboree in King's Cross and All Is Joy in Dean Street. The events regularly sold out as The Nickel's popularity grew. 'The plan was always to build an actual space, so these pop-ups gave me a means to get more experience, which I definitely needed since I was pretty green in the realms of programming and projection,' says Hicks. Hicks initially balanced his filmmaking day job with running The Nickel, before dropping everything to focus on the project. 'You have to be a bit mad to try to pull off something like this, but I would have died trying.' He launched a fundraiser with a target of £10,000, ending up on nearly £15,000 and added confidence that Londoners bought into his vision for a cult cinema. 'It created pressure that if I had failed to deliver, I probably would have had to leave the country!'Happily, with some help from The Scala 's Jane Giles and other cinema veterans, and a crash course in cinema programming – Hicks watched more than 420 films in 12 months to prepare – he hasn't had to flee the land: The Nickel Cinema is now officially open. Week one was a sell out. Inside the cinema, lobby walls are adorned with vinyl records, VHS tapes and film reels. The reels are a recent addition, with roughly 60 prints in The Nickel's growing collection including A Clockwork Orange, Kiss Me Deadly and King Kong, alongside films that have never been released on other formats, like '70s neo-noir curio The Nickel Ride. This includes the first reel Hicks ever bought, 1976's Charles Bronson western From Noon Till Three. 'We're showing at least one film print a week,' promises Hicks. Projecting film is no easy task – a screening of The Conversation at The Cinema Museum saw the film burn up during the projection. 'The people there probably thought we were doing some kind of Secret Cinema experience!' This is what local cinemas used to feel like before multiplexes The cinema's seats are saved from the now-closed Odeon Covent Garden, adding to the sense that the Nickel is an act of defiance in the depressing era of landlords shuttering iconic cinemas all over London, including Curzon Mayfair and even the Prince Charles Cinema. 'We get told that cinema is finished, but it's just not true,' says Nicks. 'London has an extremely active cinephile culture. It feels like we're seeing a reversal back to what local cinemas used to feel like before multiplexes.' There are big ambitions for The Nickel Cinema's first year. Hicks wants regular attendees to programme their own events, and hopes to have famous film fans like Alice Lowe or Stewart Lee introducing their favourite body horrors or Italian crime flicks. When construction on the downstairs bar is complete, there'll be workshops for aspiring filmmakers on everything from acting and directing to cinematography. Movie marathons are also on the cards. An 'All Day Mystery Horror' marathon is planned for Halloween. You'll rock up knowing the film will be something you won't forget The dream is to create a communal hub for film fans, bringing interaction and connection back to the cinema space. 'There are bars you go to because they play music you've never heard of, but you know you'll like,' says Hicks. 'We need something like that for cinema – where you don't even bother to look, you just rock up knowing it'll be something you haven't seen but you won't forget.' The Nickel is stepping perfectly into part of the big gap left by the legendary The Scala cinema. It could just be that beacon of all things cult, exploitation and underground for a new generation.
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Travel + Leisure
02-06-2025
- Business
- Travel + Leisure
Charleston, South Carolina's Newest Boutique Hotel Opens Today—With a Beautiful Courtyard and a Chic Cocktail Bar
The Nickel, Charleston's newest boutique hotel, opens on June 2 in the city's Cannonborough neighborhood. Guests can choose from 50 rooms and suites with residential-style features, such as full kitchens, washers and dryers, and dining and lounge areas. The hotel's guest-only all-day Bar Daniel serves morning espresso drinks and late-night cocktails. In late June, the hotel will introduce a rooftop bar offering small plates and cocktails along with panoramic views of the Charleston skyline. Charleston's Upper King Street draws locals and visitors for its charming mix of antique shops, art galleries, and restaurants—and it's about to get a lot buzzier. The Nickel, a new boutique hotel, opens June 2 in the city's Cannonborough neighborhood. On the heels of opening The Pinch just off King Street in 2022, The Nickel is the second Charleston hotel for Philadelphia-based Method Co., in partnership with owner and real estate developer Capital Square and Morris Adjmi Architects. The five-story new build encompasses 50 rooms and suites, a greenery-filled interior courtyard, a library, a rooftop bar, and a soon-to-open guest-only cocktail bar. 'The Nickel is our next love letter to Charleston—a bold continuation of a story that began with The Pinch,' says Daniel Olsovsky, Method Co.'s creative director, in an interview with Travel + Leisure . 'We broke ground in July 2022, just months after opening The Pinch, inspired by the creative momentum we saw pulsing through Upper King Street and the Cannonborough neighborhood.' The hotel takes its name from the French expression " c'est nickel," or 'it's impeccable," a phrase Olsovsky described as capturing 'something beautifully executed, just right, effortlessly polished. That spirit lives in every detail of the guest experience.' Upon checking in, guests will be greeted with a welcome cocktail (with a spirit-free option available, too). Each of the residential-style guest rooms and suites comes with a full kitchen, featuring Bosch appliances and honed marble countertops, as well as washers and dryers, and dedicated dining and lounge areas. In-room mini bars are stocked with local and artisanal snacks. Envisioned by New York-based Morris Adjmi Architects, who led the building design and interior architecture, as well as Method Co.'s design arm, Method Studios, the hotel's decor seamlessly marries vintage and contemporary elements. Design touches include herringbone oak flooring, custom-designed king beds, and, in select rooms, private balconies overlooking its lush interior courtyard complete with wrought iron details, a wood-burning fireplace, and a tiered fountain. The hotel's dining offerings reflect its neighborhood's creative energy. Bar Daniel, the guest-only cocktail lounge named after Cannonborough founder Daniel Cannon, serves everything from morning espresso to late-night cocktails in an elegant setting of sage velvet banquettes and antique mirror walls. Come late June, the rooftop Rosemary Rose will open to the public, offering small plates and cocktails, along with panoramic views of Charleston's skyline and the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Other highlights include a complimentary bike-sharing program and a guest pass to a nearby gym that features an 82-foot swimming pool and outdoor sports courts. The Parlour, an event space and listening room, has access to a private balcony overlooking the courtyard and a curated selection of vinyl records. Nightly rates at The Nickel Hotel start from $460, and you can book your stay at
Euronews
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Sex, sleaze and subversion: Inside London's new grindhouse cinema
On an unassuming street in central London, a red-painted building peeks at passersby — its facade plastered with a close-up of The Man with the X-Ray Eyes. Inside, I'm watching Ruggero Deodato's The Washing Machine, an Italian murder mystery involving psychosexual mind games, fridge fornication, and bleeding appliances. It's the kind of filmic fever dream only The Nickel would dare to screen: a new micro cinema in London founded by filmmaker and programmer Dominic Hicks. Imbued with the frenetic spirit and sleazy charm of retro American grindhouse theatres, it's a shrine to the deranged gems of exploitation cinema: gritty, boundary-pushing B-movies. Or as Hicks puts it: 'A safe place for weirdos and outsiders.' June's inaugural screenings include everything from Todd Browning's silent horror The Unknown, to Roman Polanski's erotic thriller Bitter Moon, to David Winters' Cannes-set giallo The Last Horror Film. The programming embraces an anything-goes approach, inspired by the edgy offerings of London's infamous Scala cinema. 'I like films where the beauty in them comes through how the audience receives and nurtures them in their collective imagination,' Hicks tells Euronews Culture. 'Whether it's the practical effects, or the score, or the bad acting that they find really quotable — it belongs to the audience in the long run.' The Nickel might be small, but in an era of digital disconnection and algorithmic ennui, it's part of a growing movement across Europe: DIY film clubs and hyperlocal venues that counter the monoculture of streaming services and multiplexes. From Liverpool's trans-inclusive 'Paraphysis Cinema' to the feminist-themed 'Tonnerre' in Paris, these repertory pop-ups represent a desire among cinephiles to discover subversive oddities as intended: with an audience. 'These community spaces are an opportunity to bring people back together to have conversations about movies,' Hicks says. 'You don't have to all feel the same, but the idea of being challenged, or getting the giggles together about some strange little forgotten gem, is always going to be entertaining.' This idea of confronting discomfort together is key. Namwali Serpell, writing in the New Yorker, recently lamented the rise of 'new literalism' — a cinematic trend where movies like The Substance and Anora heavy-handedly spell out their meanings and politics. Exploitation cinema, in all its moral ambiguity and tonal absurdity, offers a thrilling antithesis. 'I actually prefer, particularly when you look at the films of the 70s, how murky those movies were — that it's not abundantly clear if the filmmakers had the right morals,' Hicks explains. 'For me, that doesn't mean it's actually promoting poor morals. I think audiences are intelligent enough to challenge what they're seeing.' Before raising nearly £14,000 (€16,640) for its permanent space, Hicks ran The Nickel as an event programme for his local pub and The Cinema Museum. Much of what he shared was on rare 16mm prints, tapping into the sensory ambience of physical formats. Similar to the revival of vinyl, the crackle and click of film reels have become a way for people to connect with art more tangibly. 'You can't come close to the aesthetic experience of watching an original film print being projected in public when you're streaming things digitally,' Hicks says, citing one magical moment at The Cinema Museum when the projector got stuck and burned a film print: 'Everybody was just delighted. It was like we'd seen a shooting star.' Though The Nickel is still under construction when I visit, the vibe already feels special. Obscure physical media lines the entrance's shelves, their lurid covers begging to be fondled. Meanwhile, the dimly-lit basement bar is set to double as a communal hub for film-related workshops. 'Ultimately the plan would be to have everybody create projects together, then we can screen them here,' says Hicks, excited at the prospect of working 'on weird shit' with others. At a time when cinemas face a precarious future, The Nickel's vision is ambitious and comfortingly optimistic. According to the Independent Cinema Office (ICO), almost a third of UK independent cinemas are under threat, with London institutions like The Prince Charles launching petitions against redevelopment. But Hicks doesn't believe cinema will die — just its commercial models of old. 'I think we're seeing a return to that neighbourhood, smaller, independent cinema, because multiplexes don't give people a compelling enough reason to leave their sofas,' he explains. 'But I have faith that people won't surrender something so essential as the experience of going to the movies. I really hope not, anyway. And if they do, it'll be a hill worth dying on for me.' As the end credits of The Washing Machine roll, the room fizzes with the excitable energy of a shared (and sordid) little secret. Away from the anodyne streaming output, there's a quiet rebelliousness in The Nickel's embrace of mess, madness and misfits — a reminder that cinema's darkened rooms are often where we feel most fully seen. The Nickel cinema opens in London on 11 June. An image of five elderly women having a giggle while sharing spring rolls in a quiet corner of Sichuan has been crowned the world's best food photograph. Titled simply as "The Elderly Having Delicious Food", the heartwarming photo by Chinese photographer Xiaoling Li has taken the top prize at this year's World Food Photography Awards, beating nearly 10,000 entries from 70 countries. Shot in Shuangliu Ancient Town, the image captures what Li describes as a 'Dragon Gate formation' - a Chinese phrase for neighbours gathering to chat, gossip, and share stories over food. 'They eat the famous Sichuan snack 'spring rolls,'' says Li. 'Food makes these people happy; they enjoy a beautiful and joyful life.' The awards, sponsored by Tenderstem® Bimi®, were announced in a glittering ceremony at London's Mall Galleries, hosted by chef and author Yotam Ottolenghi. The competition spans 25 categories - from 'Bring Home the Harvest' to 'Food in the Field' - and celebrates the many ways food weaves through our lives, cultures, and stories. 'These Awards showcase the power of photography in telling incredible food stories from around the world,' said Dave Samuels, Brand Director at Tenderstem® Bimi®. 'No matter how the world changes, food remains at the heart of our lives.' A selection of the winning images will be on display at Fortnum & Mason from 2 June and the Museum of the Home from 3 June to 7 September. Below, feast your eyes upon a few of our favourite winning images from this year's competition.
