Prince Charles Cinema secures 25-year lease after campaign to save it

London’s Prince Charles Cinema said on October 15, 2026 that it had signed a 25-year lease with no break clause, securing its tenancy after 21 months of uncertainty. The agreement follows a public campaign over the future of the West End venue.

The absence of a break clause is the key change. Deadline identified the landlord as Zedwell LSQ Ltd and reported that the new agreement binds both landlord and tenant for its full term. The cinema said 168,645 people signed its petition during the dispute.

Why the Prince Charles Cinema’s lease was in dispute

Deadline reported that the cinema’s previous lease was due to expire in September 2025. The cinema sought a replacement lasting at least 15 years, at market rent and on terms similar to the existing agreement, according to the outlet. Deadline said Zedwell had sought a redevelopment break clause that would have allowed it to end the new lease on six months’ notice after it began.

The dispute became public at the start of 2025 and developed into a legal battle with Criterion Capital, the Evening Standard reported. Cinema management said the landlord had demanded rent it considered unreasonable, according to the Standard. That was the cinema’s account of a contested issue, rather than an established finding about the rent.

The concern persisted well into this year. NME reported that the cinema said in August 2026 that it remained at risk of closure. Its new announcement addresses the central question behind the campaign: whether it could secure a long-term tenancy without the proposed early exit provision.

How the campaign unfolded

The cinema credited the Soho Society with recommending that the venue be designated an Asset of Community Value and Westminster Council with granting that designation in May 2025. Alongside the petition, the designation formed part of the public campaign while the lease dispute continued; the cinema now says the signed agreement has ended that period of uncertainty.