The Gaumont State, Kilburn, London

The Gaumont State Cinema is a Grade II listed Art Deco theatre located in Kilburn, a district in northwest London. Entertainers such as Gracie Fields, Larry Adler and George Formby performed at the official opening, broadcast live on BBC Radio on 20 December 1937. Since then, the Gaumont State has been one of the most popular music venues in London and hosted a number of historic performances. From the late 1980s until 2007 the building was run as a bingo hall by Mecca Bingo. In 2007 the bingo was closed, and the building and surrounding site were put up for sale. A campaign to Save the Kilburn State from unsympathetic property developers, and restore it as a cultural centre, was started in the same year by local residents, and the building was eventually acquired by Ruach City Church, led by Bishop John Anthony Francis and Co-Pastor Penny Francis, 70 years to the exact day that The Gaumont State was first opened on 20 December 1937.