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London · Venue

O2 Forum Kentish Town

A 2,300-capacity Art Deco former cinema that remains a major stop for touring London shows.

Upcoming shows
86
Capacity
2,300
Address
9-17 Highgate Road, NW5 1JY London
Phone
020 3545 5900
Next show
Fri, 9 Oct 2026
Official siteDirections
O2 Forum Kentish Town in London

About O2 Forum Kentish Town

O2 Forum Kentish Town is a 2,300-capacity concert venue in London, operating inside the 1934-built former Forum Cinema on Highgate Road. Its defining feature is a surviving Art Deco cinema auditorium designed by J. Stanley Beard, with an upper balcony that gives the room a theatre-like perspective on the stage. It suits artists who need a substantial London room without arena scale.

From picture house to touring room

Herbert Yapp built the Forum as an Art Deco cinema, and it opened on 17 December 1934 with a programme of music and films led by entertainer Sydney Howard. Associated British Cinemas took control in March 1935; the building became the ABC in 1963. Cinema use ended in 1970, followed by spells as a bingo hall and dance hall before the Town & Country Club era brought live music into the building during the 1980s.

A 1993 handover to Mean Fiddler brought the London Forum name. In 2007, MAMA & Company bought the venue and funded a £1.5 million renovation that raised capacity to 2,300. That conversion history explains the venue’s scale: it carries the proportions of a purpose-built picture house while serving the demands of amplified touring shows.

How the room works now

The programme centres on touring live concerts, spanning electronic, hip-hop, rock, pop, indie, alternative, metal and folk bills. Most shows place the crowd in the downstairs stalls, with the balcony offering a separate elevated option. Balcony seating is usually unreserved and first-come, first-served, though each event’s ticket information sets the final arrangement; some dates also use additional balcony standing or a fully seated layout. The choice is simple: floor tickets place you in the moving crowd, while the balcony offers a steadier, wider view of the stage.

Sources

  1. About Us | O2 Forum Kentish Town — Academy Music Group
  2. A copy of a photograph showing the front of the Forum Cinema at the time of its opening — Historic England
  3. FAQs | O2 Forum Kentish Town — Academy Music Group
  4. O2 Forum Kentish Town — Wikipedia

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