Himalaya Palace rises again

The Himalaya Palace Cinema in Southall has reopened. The building, built in the Twenties by architect George Coles to resemble the famous Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, was gutted by fire in 1998.

The exotic Chinese façade, complete with terracotta dragons and scarlet pagoda roofs, were once startling enough to stop passers by.

The cinema is now owned by local businessman Surjit Pandher who fell in love with the building as a young man and bought it when it was the Liberty Market to convert it back to a movie house.

When the Grade II* building was gutted by a fire in 1998, it was Mr Pandher's decision to use the tragedy as a way of restoring the building. Aided by a £113,500 grant from English Heritage, the restoration has revealed the original magnificent Art Deco colour scheme. English Heritage provided advice as well as cash throughout the three-year restoration project.

"By far the most daunting task was the extensive paint research carried out on the blackened and fire gutted interior," said Louise Henderson, architectural paint researcher at English Heritage. "I spent hours looking for wellpreserved bits of plaster - and to my surprise they turned out to be in different colours."

The cinema will be dedicated to films from both Hollywood and Bollywood.