Twickenham Film Studios was due to celebrate its centenary next year, but there will be no candles to blow out now. The renowned South West London studio has gone into administration, and will be shut down by June. All of its 17 employees are to be laid of in the next few months and the building is to be sold to property developers. "Twickenham Studios has debts at the moment that it can’t pay, but if we sell the property, everyone will get paid in full," administrator Gerald Krasner told The Telegraph. "It has lost money for a few years now, and the shareholders have already put in substantial monies but they are not prepared to put any more money in. It will not be retained as a film studio, because there is no way of making it pay as a film studio."

When contacted by ARTINFO UK, Krasner declined to say exactly how much debt the studio was in, but conceded that it "went into six figures." A potential buyer is already lined up. "We've got somebody interested and we'll know within a few weeks whether we'll sign a contract or not. [This closure] is indicative of what's happening across Europe," he continued. "I don't think it's specific to film studios, it's the general economy."

The folding of Twickenham Film Studios will mark the end of a glorious chapter in British cinema. When it was founded in 1913 on the site of a former ice-staking rink, TFS was the biggest film studio in the country. The first film realized there was the silent movie "The House of Temperley" based on a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was used for the Beatles's "Hard Day's Night" and "Help," as well as for such landmarks as "Alfie," "Repulsion," and "Blade Runner." The soon-to-be released "Bel Ami," featuring Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, and Christina Ricci was partly shot there, and so was Steven Spielberg's "War Horse." Poignantly, TFS's website still states: "As the studio approaches its centenary, we continue to offer the world's film makers the best working environment in which to both realize their projects, and to add to Twickenham's remarkable heritage." This heritage is soon to be confined to the history books.