| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) 08:49 - Jun 12 with 8148 views | RangersDave |
Hi chaps and chapesses,
for the last year, in my spare time, i have been visiting old cinema buildings around the country, recoding how they look now both externally, and where possible, internally (some still have lots of original features).
It's a labor of love, and so far i have catalogued 411 cinemas, with around another 1300 still to do.
I have recorder 4 that are now demolished, i have 'found' 3 that were thought demolished and even found a bomb shelter untouched since WW2 under one.
If you have any penchant for 1900-1940 art deco cinemas (or flea pits as i used to know them) feel free to join my facebook page 'old cinema buildings' to discuss, or even just visit my cinema photographs at.... https://northernphotography.zenfolio.com/f504340746
I am not doing any of this for any renumeration or gain, just for the knowledge that i am saving as many as possible digitally for future generations. |  |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:00 - Jun 12 with 4722 views | Metallica_Hoop |
Some great pics there. That Burnley Empire looks so sad.
You should add if you know them the dates they were active. |  |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:10 - Jun 12 with 4695 views | RangersDave |
Hi mate,
When i visited the Burnley empire, i was struck by the way it dominated the skyline. literally.
Also as the security fence was broken i had the chance to go 'urban' and take a look inside but chickened out.
I know its on the 'at risk' register of theatres and cinemas but i dont think its long for thsi world as i seem to remember some of the roof has fallen in.
Maybe they can save the facade but even that looks a bit skew now.
Good point about dates, i will try and add them as i go along.
Cheers
Dave | |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:17 - Jun 12 with 4675 views | flynnbo |
There's a lovely old Art Deco cinema in Northampton. In an Endeavour episode, they filmed at a cinema in Catford/Lewisham. Apologies if mentioned in the link as I've not opened it. |  | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:20 - Jun 12 with 4668 views | hantssi |
I’ve been to the Ambleside cinema donkeys years ago, it had the best vegetarian restaurant next to (part of?) it I’ve ever been to and I’m not a veggie, in fact we didn’t know it was a vegetarian until we’d sat down! |  | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:21 - Jun 12 with 4667 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Gaumont State on Kilburn High Rd.
Became a Mecca Bingo in mid 90s but I’m old enough to remember watching the cinema there.
Great thread.
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:32 - Jun 12 with 4648 views | slmrstid |
I'll take a look at that Facebook page, I love stuff like that.
I had a quick peek on your page to see if you'd made it to Leicester yet, although from my research of local history it appears the council spent much of the 60s/70s/80s demolishing pretty much anything old they could find, there is still some cracking old buldings to be had in the city.
One cinema in particular, known as the Athena now (and is an arts/conference/party venue) but was an Odeon back in the day, is absolutely identical to the Liverpool Abbey Cinema you have photographed. A bit more polished up though as it has been refurbed in recent years. |  | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:53 - Jun 12 with 4613 views | SonofNorfolt |
There are loads in London that you don't seem to have made a start on yet. Off the top of my head, I can think of about ten in a three or four mile radius, some still standing some not. |  | | |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:06 - Jun 12 with 4590 views | SonofNorfolt |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:59 - Jun 12 by Metallica_Hoop |
I read years ago and just checked, that was one of the biggest in Europe when built.
It always fascinated me as a kid on my way to the newsagent that sold Airfix models and paints nearby.
The Burnley one is amazing inside.
https://www.aworldinruins.co.uk/burnley-empire [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 10:11]
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I'm sure bands like Deep Purple and The Who played there in the '70's. Wasn't it here that Purple were recorded as the loudest band in the World? | | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:09 - Jun 12 with 4584 views | RangersDave |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 09:59 - Jun 12 by Metallica_Hoop |
I read years ago and just checked, that was one of the biggest in Europe when built.
It always fascinated me as a kid on my way to the newsagent that sold Airfix models and paints nearby.
The Burnley one is amazing inside.
https://www.aworldinruins.co.uk/burnley-empire [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 10:11]
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Thats a beautiful old picture house, and a lot of Londons ones are 'on the list'
Trouble is, where do you start? Well i started in Liverpool (obviously) worked east and west from me, and have started north and a bit south now.
The main thing i love, is finding old fixtures and fitting within a cinema the owner didnt know existed or knew what they were.
One in coventry springs to mind as the owner swore blind it was gutted for his use, but i found the balcony, decorative freizes, flooring, wallpaper etc. Very cool.
In another i showed the owner of 35 years, that he had part of the balcony and where the seats were fitted, and where the entrance actually was because he thiught it was the other end of the building.
Such great histiry and most started as theatres...... then when short films became available, some of the cast were laid off as it proved cheaper to run half and half, then features, dwindled the casts more, then talkies, and A & B films did for the theatres almost totally with only a scant few hanging on. | |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:10 - Jun 12 with 4586 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:06 - Jun 12 by SonofNorfolt |
I'm sure bands like Deep Purple and The Who played there in the '70's. Wasn't it here that Purple were recorded as the loudest band in the World? |
Yeah them, the faces, Bowie and Sabbath.
All I could find out was it was a BBC session turned into an album I've never heard of.
I'll have to Amazon it. | |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:16 - Jun 12 with 4578 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:09 - Jun 12 by RangersDave |
Thats a beautiful old picture house, and a lot of Londons ones are 'on the list'
Trouble is, where do you start? Well i started in Liverpool (obviously) worked east and west from me, and have started north and a bit south now.
The main thing i love, is finding old fixtures and fitting within a cinema the owner didnt know existed or knew what they were.
One in coventry springs to mind as the owner swore blind it was gutted for his use, but i found the balcony, decorative freizes, flooring, wallpaper etc. Very cool.
In another i showed the owner of 35 years, that he had part of the balcony and where the seats were fitted, and where the entrance actually was because he thiught it was the other end of the building.
Such great histiry and most started as theatres...... then when short films became available, some of the cast were laid off as it proved cheaper to run half and half, then features, dwindled the casts more, then talkies, and A & B films did for the theatres almost totally with only a scant few hanging on. |
I wish I'd broke into Hammersmith before they knocked it down. I remember seeing 'Batman' in 1989 when it was one screen not the four small ones it became and the queue stretched to the Great West Road.
It was like the 30's come again. I've never seen that before or since for a film. F'kin Batman! | |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 11:11 - Jun 12 with 4526 views | Boston |
We had the choice of two cinemas in Wembley when I was a kid, the Odeon and the ABC, both long demo’d. ABC was considered the superior venue, certainly recall it being nicer and more expensive. [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 11:12]
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 11:40 - Jun 12 with 4490 views | NorthantsHoop |
When I was a young lad and lived in Northolt, went to
South Harrow Odeon on the Northolt Road in the early 1970s for Saturday morning pictures, sadly the Odeon closed around 1972. The other cinema that I went to up to the mid 1980s was Rayners Lane Odeon, the building has a preservation order and is now the Zoroastrian Centre. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/11167 [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 11:42]
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 11:57 - Jun 12 with 4459 views | MrSheen |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 10:06 - Jun 12 by SonofNorfolt |
I'm sure bands like Deep Purple and The Who played there in the '70's. Wasn't it here that Purple were recorded as the loudest band in the World? |
My Mum saw Cliff Richard at the Kilburn State (Gaumont for a while?) in 1959! I can remember Rod Stewart playing there in 1974, I was carol singing with the school at the tube station and Rod's Tartan Army came through.
I went to the pictures at the State and the Grange (later the National) across the road as a kid. They were awesome places, like luxury hotels. |  | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 12:12 - Jun 12 with 4437 views | CliveWilsonSaid |
2 old cinemas still visible near me in Ealing.
The facade of the old ABC cinema in Ealing Broadway is being incorporated into a new development called Filmworks. Mostly flats and some shops and restaurants. A cinema is being built there too but not on the original plot.
What used to be The Avenue Theatre over the road from Northfields station is still there. It was an Odeon Cinema when I was a child and I have faint memories of going there. It closed as a cinema in 1985 and became The Top Hat Club nightclub soon after. More recently it’s been a religious centre of various kinds. Currently the Ealing Christian Centre and apparently most of the decor has been restored. |  |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 12:14 - Jun 12 with 4429 views | RangersDave |
Hi everyone,
Have added 4 more cinemas to the web site, and will do a cinema a day on my facebook with a snippet or 2 of information on that cinema.
I'll also start adding open and closed dates to each, plus names of famous people or groups to have trod the boards at that particular venue. This will be on my zenfolio site (link in my original post.
Please, if your on FB, join the group, the more the merrier really and 4 members including me wont cut it.
Also, if your minded, please share to friends, families, organisations, your pets, your pets tennis instructor and some chap i met in a bar called Dennis.
As mentioned, its a labor of love, for no reward, so it would be nice to make the FB page more popular. Already have 1 celebrity as a member too.
Oh, and as an addition, if you work in a bingo hall, cinema, club that used to be a cinema, and can get me in to photograph the insides, or know someone who can, please let me know via PM.
cheers
Dave [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 12:16]
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 12:16 - Jun 12 with 4424 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 12:14 - Jun 12 by RangersDave |
Hi everyone,
Have added 4 more cinemas to the web site, and will do a cinema a day on my facebook with a snippet or 2 of information on that cinema.
I'll also start adding open and closed dates to each, plus names of famous people or groups to have trod the boards at that particular venue. This will be on my zenfolio site (link in my original post.
Please, if your on FB, join the group, the more the merrier really and 4 members including me wont cut it.
Also, if your minded, please share to friends, families, organisations, your pets, your pets tennis instructor and some chap i met in a bar called Dennis.
As mentioned, its a labor of love, for no reward, so it would be nice to make the FB page more popular. Already have 1 celebrity as a member too.
Oh, and as an addition, if you work in a bingo hall, cinema, club that used to be a cinema, and can get me in to photograph the insides, or know someone who can, please let me know via PM.
cheers
Dave [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 12:16]
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Copy the Facebook link Dave. | | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 12:57 - Jun 12 with 4380 views | RangersDave |
Just tried and couldnt do it for some reason.
If your on FB , just search for 'old cinema buildings' and it should take you right there.
Cheers
Dave [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 12:59]
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 13:43 - Jun 12 with 4337 views | hantssi |
Boston, didn’t one of them become a C & A, the one nearer the Triangle? | | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 14:04 - Jun 12 with 4309 views | PlanetHonneywood |
The Savoy, Heaton Moor in Manchester.
It was at the end of my street when I lived there and some schlaags wanted to buy it to turn it into a bar or something. It rallied the troops into a resistance movement and it’s been going strong ever since. |  |
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| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 14:30 - Jun 12 with 4289 views | BucksRanger |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 11:11 - Jun 12 by Boston |
We had the choice of two cinemas in Wembley when I was a kid, the Odeon and the ABC, both long demo’d. ABC was considered the superior venue, certainly recall it being nicer and more expensive. [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 11:12]
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You're younger than me then.
The Odeon was the Gaumont when I lived there and the ABC was the Regal. The Regal was the better of the two (on the corner of Ealing Road and Wembley High St) if I remember correctly whilst the Gaumont was at the far end of the High St up towards Wembley Stadium area. |  | | |
| Old Cinema buildings (shameless plug) on 14:40 - Jun 12 with 4267 views | RangersDave |
I knocked on the door in passing a few months back) and they were shut, but let me in to see how lovely it is on the inside.
Same guys who renovated the Rex at Winsford i think. Good on em! [Post edited 12 Jun 2020 15:15]
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