Plans for the Elstree Immersive Experience at The Point are in: open 8am to 11pm, up to 1,200 visitors a day, a December preview and a spring 2027 launch.
The empty bingo hall at The Point on Shenley Road is set to become the Elstree Immersive Experience, a visitor attraction about a century of film and television made in the town. A planning application to change the use of the unit was validated by Hertsmere Borough Council today, Wednesday 14 October.
The application, reference 26/1453/FUL, covers Unit 2, The Point, 84 Shenley Road. It was received on 9 October. The council’s deadline for a decision is 9 December 2026.
The company behind it is owned by the council. Its managing director, Adam Morley, is named as the applicant.
What the attraction would be
The planning, design and access statement describes a permanent attraction “telling the story of 100 years of film and television at Elstree”. The unit is about 23,023 sq ft (2,139 sq m) on the ground floor.
The layout includes:
- an entrance and ticketing hall
- a cafe, using the unit’s existing kitchen
- themed experience zones
- a main event space for exhibitions, screenings and performances
- a shop and back-of-house space
Weekday daytimes in term time would go to schools, community groups, skills and wellbeing sessions. The rooms could also be hired for private and corporate events.
All the work is inside. The statement says there would be no change to the outside of the building and no new signage under this application.
Opening hours and visitor numbers
The plans ask for opening from 8am to 11pm every day. Entry would be by pre-booked tickets in 15-minute slots, with last entry at 9.30pm. A visit is expected to last about 90 minutes.
| First year | At maturity | |
|---|---|---|
| Admissions on a peak day | up to 600 | up to 1,200 |
| Visitors over the year | about 70,000 | about 250,000 by year five |
The limits the applicant has offered are:
- no more than 250 visitors in the building at once, plus staff
- no more than 40 admissions in any 15-minute slot
- later finishes on no more than 12 nights a year, with everyone gone by midnight
The yearly figures come from feasibility work by the consultancy Genecon, quoted in the statement. The cafe would serve alcohol at limited times, under a separate premises licence it has yet to apply for.
The statement says a community preview is targeted for December 2026, with the full launch in spring 2027. The council’s decision deadline falls in the same month as that preview.
The council is on every side of this
This is the detail the announcement left out. Hertsmere Borough Council is involved in the project in four separate ways, and it is also the planning authority that will decide the application.
According to the applicant’s propriety and governance statement:
- It owns the applicant. Elstree Immersive Experience Ltd is wholly owned by the council.
- It owns the freehold of The Point, subject to a 125-year headlease. A private investor is the immediate landlord of Unit 2.
- It guarantees the lease. The lease, dated 16 September 2026, is held by Elstree and Borehamwood Film and TV CIC, whose members are the council and Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council.
- It funds the project, with an allocation of developer levy money.
The council also runs the 240-space car park on the roof of The Point under a long lease, the transport and parking note says.
The governance statement expects the application to go to the Planning Committee, not to be decided by officers alone. It says the case officer will not be anyone involved in the shareholder or funding decisions. It adds that the company has asked the council’s Monitoring Officer to confirm in writing how the application should be decided.
Why the council had to guarantee the lease
Cabinet agreed to stand behind the lease on 13 May 2026. The officer report was blunt about why.
“Elstree Immersive are unlikely to find a landlord who would accept them as a tenant without a guarantor,” it said. Without the guarantee, the project “would be unlikely to secure the proposed lease”.
The decision covers a 10-year lease. The council guarantees the rent and service charges to the landlord. The report says the guarantee is capped and the chance of it being called is “low”, but the caps, the rent and the address were all kept in an exempt appendix the public cannot see.
The money so far
The council’s commitments are on the record:
- up to £2 million of Community Infrastructure Levy grant, agreed by full Council on 26 November 2025
- a £330,000 working capital loan, agreed at the same meeting and secured on the company’s assets
Both are set out in a February 2026 council report on how the company would be run. The council announced the levy grant on 10 December 2025.
The Hertfordshire Growth Board said in June that the project was backed by £3.3 million: the £2 million levy grant and £1.3 million in external investment. It did not say where the external money came from. The same release gave an opening date of December 2026, which has since moved to spring 2027.
Companies House shows the company was incorporated on 9 March 2026, with its registered office at the Civic Offices on Elstree Way.
Bingo has not left Borehamwood
The unit’s last use was a bingo hall, run latterly by Buzz Bingo and before that under the Gala name. Buzz Bingo’s own club page now lists its Borehamwood club at 63 Shenley Road, a short walk away.
The planning statement says the club moved there in summer 2024 and still trades. It argues the town loses no bingo or leisure space as a result.
In a statement carried by the trade press, Morley called signing the lease “a big step” for the project, Televisual reported.
What it means for you
- You can comment on the plans. Search for 26/1453/FUL on the council’s planning portal. The public consultation dates were not yet shown today. We will add them when they appear.
- If you live near Shenley Road, the hours asked for (8am to 11pm) close earlier than the unit’s existing permission, which allows opening until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. The applicant offers a noise management note and an operational management plan to be secured by condition.
- Parking. No new spaces are planned. Visitors are expected to use The Point’s roof car park and the town centre car parks. Our parking in Borehamwood page lists them. Coach drop-off for school groups is still to be agreed; the Civic Offices car park is one option.
- Jobs. The transport note expects up to about 20 staff on site at any one time once the venue is established.
The attraction would sit next door to REEL’s cinema in the same building. REEL and the council signed a separate agreement in September about a bigger cinema, which we reported here. The application says the company is in talks with REEL about joint programming. More planning stories are on our Borehamwood planning news page.
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