Young Reporter: Pop-up cinema at local café

The Brook is a café in Wallington but it’s not your ordinary type of café.

The Brook may seem like a cosy, small café at first glance but when you take a closer look you’ll realise it is a café, a cinema, has a host of exhibitions, is a bar, a studio, an arts venue, a recording studio, a hall and a shop.

Dawn, one of the employees, kindly explained the history of The Brook. The Brook has been open since May 2013. Before that the premises was a tyre shop. To convert the tyre shop into The Brook they had to make huge alterations because they wanted to change lots of things.

Andy and Thea are the owners of The Brook and they have a living room upstairs. The Brook is busiest on weekends.

The Pop-up cinema can hold 24 people comfortably and they have a programme of films each month for adults, children and teenagers. The are thinking of setting up mothers and toddlers sessions. A ticket costs £5.00. To hire out the Pop-up cinema it costs £100, you can bring your friends and a DVD or Blu-ray to watch. Anyone can go to the Pop-up cinema depending on the age ratings of the movie. The Brook likes to call itself a community-based café because they ask the community what they would like to see. It also reflects the seasons, so for Halloween they are showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Exorcist.

Andy, the owner, always wanted his own recording studio, and he thought that the artists would want something to drink, so he added the bar and café. It came with a hall, so he decided to hold activities in it.

The Brook isn't right on the high street but that is what makes the place unique, people don’t just walk into The Brook the same way you would walk into Starbucks or Caffè Nero. People who want to go in will go in.

The Brook is always looking to add more activities and include what the community wants to do. They have Yoga on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Creative Writing on a Tuesday, Open Mic on a Friday, Music Night once a month, a quiz, choir on a Thursday and book club.

There are future plans for The Brook which include expansion, in other parts of the building or to make another ‘Brook’ somewhere else.

Article written by Evie Hay