Let me begin by asking you a question. Who do you think invented the boom microphone? That's right, the fluffy mics that are held above news correspondents, actors, and Louis Theroux. You probably don't think about who invented the boom microphone very often. Or ever. It's quite a boring thought. But perhaps you should.
In 1929, in order to allow Clara Bow to move freely around the set of The Wild Party, a standard microphone was affixed to a fishing rod giving birth to one of the most unassuming, yet transformative technologies in audio production for filmmaking. What if I told you it was all the invention of the only woman film director in Hollywood in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, a that she was a lesbian who dressed in men's clothing? More than all that she made some of the biggest films of the century and worked with Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford, and Katharine Hepburn. Less boring than you anticipated, I hope. Her name? Dorothy Arzner. So when Simon Burke and Piers Greenlees set about opening the UK's first LGBTQ+ cinema, it's hard to imagine a more fitting name.
The Arzner opened in February 2025 to much fanfare. With that fanfare came a predictable level of commentary on Facebook (other hellholes are available) about the need for an LGBTQ+ cinema, and what the point of it all was. Coupled with the declining ticket sales in the mainstream filmhouses, one could be forgiven for worrying how it might go. Burke and Greenlees have proved the naysayers wrong, and created something special. The afternoon crowd tend to be those working-from-bar, and why wouldn't you? The furniture alone is enough to make you want to stay. In the evenings you might struggle to find a table, and in sunny weather it's standing room only on the terrace. Most years go by without an LGBTQ+ blockbuster, but Harry Lighton's Pillion - starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling - looks set to take the crown for most-talked-about of the 2020s. It was released in November 2025, but it's still selling out at The Arzner four months later. Almost unheard of in the average local cinema.
But it's not just new releases that The Arzner is showing - although their commitment to showing the best of what's out now should be commended. New life is being breathed into films that were simply ahead of their time. The Arzner is giving films, that despite being worthy of a cinema screening, never got one. For some, it's their first projection onto the silver screen. Although it did receive a limited screening on its release in 2001, I got the chance to watch Hedwig and the Angry Inch on a screen significantly larger than the television in the flat I rented in Clerkenwell in the late noughties. Seeing it X times larger for the first time, and in cinema surround sound, made me realise just how important this LGBTQ+ picturehouse is going to be. No matter how much TVs at home have improved, they will never replace the atmosphere of watching something at the size it was intended to be shown, alongside a room of other people laughing or crying along. LGBTQ+ filmmakers who could never have dreamt of their work being shown properly will have that wrong righted.
Even if you're not in search of screening, the bar is a triumph in its own right. Burke and Greenlees have built a bar team that can do cocktails properly (and if you ask them about any of the films that are showing, they'll talk knowledgeably about them). The menu changes seasonally, and all cocktails are named after Hollywood greats. The Garbo is my personal favourite - made with gin, lemon, basil, and olive oil. But I've also had a classic dirty vodka martini that rivals the rest of Bermondsey Street.
Not that the venue could be any more popular, this is an institution worthy of your support and the name Arzner. In return for your patronage, you're given a comfortable seat, excellently-made drinks, and a warm atmosphere. An evening drink with friends here is one that is well spent. And even better, you'll watch something you've probably never seen before. Go before too many find out about it.
To begin
Dirty Vodka Martini
The main event
The Garbo
On the side
Jude's Salted Caramel plant-based ice cream
On the screen
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Food: £7
Drinks: £28*
Service: £3.13
Cinema tickets: £20†
Total for two: £58.13
*We made use of 2-4-1 cocktails between 4pm and 6pm on weekdays.
†Tickets are just £10 each with a membership
★★★★★ 5/5
The Arzner Bar & Cinema
10 Bermondsey Sq, London SE1 3UN thearzner.com
Follow @arznerbar and @arnznercinema on Instagram.
