Trustees at one of London's most iconic cinemas have been left red-faced after a porn film shot in the auditorium surfaced online – and subsequently went viral.
The 102-year-old Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley, north London – which is one of the oldest purpose-built and continuously operating cinemas in the UK – has vowed to review its guidelines for hiring out the venue after the clip was posted on the porn website Xvideos.
Barrister James Kessler, deputy chair of the Phoenix Cinema Trust, which owns the venue, told the Hampstead & Highgate Express he did not believe the film was part of a professional porn shoot but rather a hen night party turned raunchy.
The rather explicit video features a group of women cheering on another woman as she performs a sex act on a man inside the cinema.
The film is being hyped as part of the CFNM genre of erotica, which stands for “clothed female, naked male." A quick search on Google provides plenty of additional detail.
Elizabeth Taylor-Mead, executive director at the cinema, insisted the venue would "never ever knowingly allow a hire for a pornographic film."