Discussion
We are getting the old cinema back locally, was a furniture shop for 20 odd years and is being re-opened, funny how times change.
I dont mind multiplexes but until I was 20 or so it was local cinemas and I have some great memories.
Intermissions, dont get that now with the lady selling ice creams in the aisle.
Short documentaries before the main film, remember one about a scrap yard in the US and another about the Iditarod Dog Sled race in Alaska.
Wonky, wobbly adverts for an Indian Restaurant "A short walk from this cinema"
Poppets and Kia-Ora
Pearl and Dean
What are your memories ?
I dont mind multiplexes but until I was 20 or so it was local cinemas and I have some great memories.
Intermissions, dont get that now with the lady selling ice creams in the aisle.
Short documentaries before the main film, remember one about a scrap yard in the US and another about the Iditarod Dog Sled race in Alaska.
Wonky, wobbly adverts for an Indian Restaurant "A short walk from this cinema"
Poppets and Kia-Ora
Pearl and Dean
What are your memories ?
Going to the Saturday morning matinee at The Apollo in Manchester (Now a music venue) in the late fifties and all the kids stamping on the wooden floor when the US cavalry were charging along and booing the Indians when they were retreating.
Harry Mears continental cinema in Winton, Bournemouth in '72, some of the best "continental" films on show anywhere.
http://primolux.co.uk/continental_winton.htm
Harry Mears continental cinema in Winton, Bournemouth in '72, some of the best "continental" films on show anywhere.
http://primolux.co.uk/continental_winton.htm
We have one round my way.
The Royalty Cinema in Bowness on Windermere was built in 1926. It has 3 screens and has Dolby digital sound.
It also has a 1927 Wurlitzer cinema organ that's been restored and fitted on a scissor lift to rise out of the floor.
We've had a bit of a scrap with the local council looking to redevelop the site but facebook won out
so they've shelved the planned act of sacrilege.
Inside, the ambience is pure 1930s and the atmosphere is intimate and friendly. The ice cream tray comes round just before
the film is run.
It reminds me of the Davenport in Stockpot, which had, intermissions, ice cream and a rising Compton organ.
There, I saw Goldfinger, Alfie. The Long Ships, A Hard Day's Night, 2001: A Space Odyssey and many more.
This place opened in 1937 and was bulldozed to lay a car park in 1997.
Shame but I'm looking forward to seeing Hurricane and Prince of Thieves at the Royalty.
The Royalty Cinema in Bowness on Windermere was built in 1926. It has 3 screens and has Dolby digital sound.
It also has a 1927 Wurlitzer cinema organ that's been restored and fitted on a scissor lift to rise out of the floor.
We've had a bit of a scrap with the local council looking to redevelop the site but facebook won out
so they've shelved the planned act of sacrilege.
Inside, the ambience is pure 1930s and the atmosphere is intimate and friendly. The ice cream tray comes round just before
the film is run.
It reminds me of the Davenport in Stockpot, which had, intermissions, ice cream and a rising Compton organ.
There, I saw Goldfinger, Alfie. The Long Ships, A Hard Day's Night, 2001: A Space Odyssey and many more.
This place opened in 1937 and was bulldozed to lay a car park in 1997.
Shame but I'm looking forward to seeing Hurricane and Prince of Thieves at the Royalty.
davhill said:
We have one round my way.
The Royalty Cinema in Bowness on Windermere was built in 1926. It has 3 screens and has Dolby digital sound.
It also has a 1927 Wurlitzer cinema organ that's been restored and fitted on a scissor lift to rise out of the floor.
We've had a bit of a scrap with the local council looking to redevelop the site but facebook won out
so they've shelved the planned act of sacrilege.
Inside, the ambience is pure 1930s and the atmosphere is intimate and friendly. The ice cream tray comes round just before
the film is run.
It reminds me of the Davenport in Stockpot, which had, intermissions, ice cream and a rising Compton organ.
There, I saw Goldfinger, Alfie. The Long Ships, A Hard Day's Night, 2001: A Space Odyssey and many more.
This place opened in 1937 and was bulldozed to lay a car park in 1997.
Shame but I'm looking forward to seeing Hurricane and Prince of Thieves at the Royalty.
Wow - that looks fantastic - and a well-deserved victory too. WTF do these councils think? Once something like that is lost, it has gone forever. Manchester council is particularly bad for selling the city's history to the highest bidder. I stopped going to the cinema a few years ago - hideous multiplexes with badly-behaved public (talking/phones, etc,etc.). Seeing a place like The Royalty makes me want to go again - a proper night out.The Royalty Cinema in Bowness on Windermere was built in 1926. It has 3 screens and has Dolby digital sound.
It also has a 1927 Wurlitzer cinema organ that's been restored and fitted on a scissor lift to rise out of the floor.
We've had a bit of a scrap with the local council looking to redevelop the site but facebook won out
so they've shelved the planned act of sacrilege.
Inside, the ambience is pure 1930s and the atmosphere is intimate and friendly. The ice cream tray comes round just before
the film is run.
It reminds me of the Davenport in Stockpot, which had, intermissions, ice cream and a rising Compton organ.
There, I saw Goldfinger, Alfie. The Long Ships, A Hard Day's Night, 2001: A Space Odyssey and many more.
This place opened in 1937 and was bulldozed to lay a car park in 1997.
Shame but I'm looking forward to seeing Hurricane and Prince of Thieves at the Royalty.
I remember seeing The Battle Of Britain at the ABC in Hull - I'd have been around five years old then (1969/70?), I imagine. There was a very long intermission for ice cream, etc,... but it seemed a very long film back then, too.
Stockport, not too far from me, is lucky - it has The Savoy Cinema and The Plaza.
I remember going to Hale cinema in Manchester when I was growing up, which briefly became famous as the location used for the children's tv series Potter's Picture Palace. A quick Google reveals it was demolished in 1978. Can only remember one film I saw there, What's Good for the Goose starring Norman Wisdom. Them were the days.
In a pokey little cinema (The Maxime in Street, Somerset) I remember the usherette whispering, "Put your legs over the seat in front if you want, you'll be more comfortable." The place was run on a shoestring, the sound of rain on the roof often drowned out the soundtrack, it had a resident cat that prowled around and sat in front of the screen and for years had a thread hanging from the roof that no one could be bothered to remove. The last I heard it was a night club.
J4CKO said:
We are getting the old cinema back locally, was a furniture shop for 20 odd years and is being re-opened, funny how times change.
I dont mind multiplexes but until I was 20 or so it was local cinemas and I have some great memories.
Intermissions, dont get that now with the lady selling ice creams in the aisle.
Short documentaries before the main film, remember one about a scrap yard in the US and another about the Iditarod Dog Sled race in Alaska.
Wonky, wobbly adverts for an Indian Restaurant "A short walk from this cinema"
Poppets and Kia-Ora
Pearl and Dean
What are your memories ?
That was the rex and i claim my 5 pounds.I dont mind multiplexes but until I was 20 or so it was local cinemas and I have some great memories.
Intermissions, dont get that now with the lady selling ice creams in the aisle.
Short documentaries before the main film, remember one about a scrap yard in the US and another about the Iditarod Dog Sled race in Alaska.
Wonky, wobbly adverts for an Indian Restaurant "A short walk from this cinema"
Poppets and Kia-Ora
Pearl and Dean
What are your memories ?
There must be quite a lot of independent ones around, I know of 4 -
The Dukes of York's in Brighton is still open and claims (along with others!) to be the oldest still in existence.
The Curzon in Clevedon is similar age and is a community/trust/charity run place.
The Hyde Park in Leeds - was a flea pit when I was a student in the 70s, much cheaper than going to the Odeon, but the films didn't arrive there til a few months after they were on at the mainstream places.
Wirksworth Derbys also has an indy, never been but I know someone who lives there and says it's excellent.
The Dukes of York's in Brighton is still open and claims (along with others!) to be the oldest still in existence.
The Curzon in Clevedon is similar age and is a community/trust/charity run place.
The Hyde Park in Leeds - was a flea pit when I was a student in the 70s, much cheaper than going to the Odeon, but the films didn't arrive there til a few months after they were on at the mainstream places.
Wirksworth Derbys also has an indy, never been but I know someone who lives there and says it's excellent.
As a kid growing up in Dublin in the 1960s, our local cinema was a classic 1930s Art Deco style design. It was located at a busy cross roads on the route from Dublin to the seaside village of Howth called Sutton Cross and was about a mile from my home.
I saw many films there, including Saturday afternoon double bills. The films that stick in my mind are from my Sutton Cinema days are -
Thunderball (1966)
Thunderbirds are Go (1966)
The Man From Uncle (1966)
Doctor Who and the Daleks (1966)
The Day of the Trifids (1962)
One Million Years BC (1966)
Both my parents had been regulars when the cinema was new (1930s and 1940s). Back then the children's admission price was 2d (i.e 2 old pence - the equivalent today of 1p). The cinema also accepted earthenware jam and marmalade jars in lieu of cash so kids used to stand in the queue with their jam jars in hand.. In those days shops repaid 2d to the customer if they returned used jam jars (like with lemonade bottles). Cinemas often accepted these jars instead of cash.
The pictures below show the site of the cinema through the decades. The first picture is from the early 1950s I would guess and it also shows one of the iconic modes of transport of the Howth-Sutton area of that period, the Hill of Howth tram. Sadly the tramway was closed down in 1957 (although the actual tramcars still survive in running order).
To the left of the cinema you can see Keogh's newsagents - whiuch is where I used to buy my Airfix kits with my weekly pocket money.
The second picture is from the early/mid 1960s and you can see that the overhead wires for the tram have gone. Other than that and the 1960s cars, the scene hasn't changed much.
Sadly, the cinema closed in 1968 and the building was converted into a supermarket. In 1986 the supermarket itself was completely destroyed in a fire and a replacement building was put on the site. You can see how the scene is today with no evidence at all of the cinema that once stood there.
I saw many films there, including Saturday afternoon double bills. The films that stick in my mind are from my Sutton Cinema days are -
Thunderball (1966)
Thunderbirds are Go (1966)
The Man From Uncle (1966)
Doctor Who and the Daleks (1966)
The Day of the Trifids (1962)
One Million Years BC (1966)
Both my parents had been regulars when the cinema was new (1930s and 1940s). Back then the children's admission price was 2d (i.e 2 old pence - the equivalent today of 1p). The cinema also accepted earthenware jam and marmalade jars in lieu of cash so kids used to stand in the queue with their jam jars in hand.. In those days shops repaid 2d to the customer if they returned used jam jars (like with lemonade bottles). Cinemas often accepted these jars instead of cash.
The pictures below show the site of the cinema through the decades. The first picture is from the early 1950s I would guess and it also shows one of the iconic modes of transport of the Howth-Sutton area of that period, the Hill of Howth tram. Sadly the tramway was closed down in 1957 (although the actual tramcars still survive in running order).
To the left of the cinema you can see Keogh's newsagents - whiuch is where I used to buy my Airfix kits with my weekly pocket money.
The second picture is from the early/mid 1960s and you can see that the overhead wires for the tram have gone. Other than that and the 1960s cars, the scene hasn't changed much.
Sadly, the cinema closed in 1968 and the building was converted into a supermarket. In 1986 the supermarket itself was completely destroyed in a fire and a replacement building was put on the site. You can see how the scene is today with no evidence at all of the cinema that once stood there.
I have very fond memories of the Odeon at Gants Hill, a fine art-deco cinema, now unforgivably demolished.
I never knew there was a pukka cinema/theatre organ there until one day at some sort of event there was a mighty rumbling and this glorious apparition emerged from the pit in front of the screen. We were entertained royally for some time before it sank down into the depths once more.
In the days before super-loud rock bands, these old cinemas had the most powerful amplification systems around. I remember seeing Woodstock in Leicester Square and staggering out afterwards with my ears ringing.
I never knew there was a pukka cinema/theatre organ there until one day at some sort of event there was a mighty rumbling and this glorious apparition emerged from the pit in front of the screen. We were entertained royally for some time before it sank down into the depths once more.
In the days before super-loud rock bands, these old cinemas had the most powerful amplification systems around. I remember seeing Woodstock in Leicester Square and staggering out afterwards with my ears ringing.
Wacky Racer said:
Harry Mears continental cinema in Winton, Bournemouth in '72, some of the best "continental" films on show anywhere.
http://primolux.co.uk/continental_winton.htm
Nice link and top projector techy nerd fest.. http://primolux.co.uk/continental_winton.htm
john2443 said:
The Curzon in Clevedon is similar age and is a community/trust/charity run place.
Love the Curzon, still has shrapnel marks on it from WW2 and an organist plays before some showings. My wife rented it out for a private viewing of back to the future for my 30th, so lots of memories for me!!
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