It’s been a great year for London, with events, pageantry and national pride forcing many of us to look at the city with new eyes. With the theme of the Olympic Games being all about the next generation, it’s only fitting that we should find out how they see our capital city. And eight-year-old Avi Rubinstein from East Finchley has won a photography competition that asked just that.

The Unicorn Theatre in London Bridge, supported by the Financial Times , asked young Londoners to tell them what London meant to them – how did they see the city? What are the secret places that visitors might not see? Who are the people that make the city what it is today?

Avi explains what won him first place in the six-nine-year-old category. “I had to take a picture of something that I liked and write 20 words about it, so I took one of The Phoenix cinema because I live very close to it and it’s the oldest running cinema in Britain. My dad told me that.

“I felt really happy that I won because so many people entered,” continues Avi, a pupil at Akiva School in Finchley. “My friends were very proud of me and so were my parents. They took me to see the exhibition at the Unicorn Theatre. It was very exciting and we got to see all the winners of the different categories.”

Avi won tickets for his family to a show, a digital camera and his photograph exhibited at the Unicorn. The competition was judged by a starry panel including FT photographer Charlie Bibby, BBC news arts editor Will Gompertz, and Purni Morell, the artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre.

Tucked away among the off-licences, cafes and phone shops on East Finchley High Street, The Phoenix could easily be overlooked by passing drivers or people who don’t already know it’s there and what a treasure it is – making it the perfect entry for the photo competition for Avi. It opened in 1912 as The East Finchley Picturedome, and over the years has also been known as The Coliseum and The Rex, before becoming The Phoenix in the 1970s. It has been owned and run by The Phoenix Cinema Trust since 1985.

Avi often goes to the Kids Club at The Phoenix on Saturday mornings and has attended friends’ parties there. He started taking photos two years ago on a family holiday to Morocco, using his parents’ camera.

“I’ve always wanted to be a photographer,” he says. “I want to keep taking photos and will probably enter some more competitions.”