The cinema opened in 1940 and has the typical appereance of Art Deco Odeons of the same era despite being fully independant. Some people claim it was due to be an Odeon but they pulled out. I just think they copied the style at the time. The cinema remained in its original one screen setup until closure in 1983 when it was turned into a bingo hall. The bingo hall only lasted 2 years before closing and the cinema was split into 4 cinemas using a periscope setup from the original projection rooms. In 1988 the front stool floor was found to be rotten and the cinema was converted into a three cinema affair with the original upper stools acting as main screen and two smaller screens below. The conversion proved to a short lived affair and the cinema would close for good in 1999. The council purchased the buliding in 2005 with a view to reopening/restoring it to fit in with general regeneration around the railway station area. Despite this the buliding remains derelict and has fallen into a real bad way – some of the roof is missing and the subsequent water damage is seeping through all levels.
2 Comments