Olympic Studios

Olympic Studios in Barnes opened as a cinema in 1910 inside a building that became Olympic Sound Studios in 1966, recording The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen and, in 2009, U2's final album there before EMI closed the studio. Barnes residents Stephen and Lisa Burdge, who ran the film advertising agency Empire Design, bought the building from EMI in 2009 and sold their own house to help fund a three-year restoration, also raising money from 250 founder members who each paid five thousand pounds. The building reopened on 18 October 2013 as a three-screen cinema with a bar and dining room, run by Barnes Cinema Limited under director Stephen Burdge. The venue now combines film screenings with a members' club and restaurant on Church Road, and a recording studio is due to return to the site.