Lovely old cinemas

[SuperBacon]

Any nostalgia, tales, stories etc, whack em in.

*scratch* after the cinema, why not take a walk down Hounslow High Street to Hounslow Tandoor. Only 3 minutes from the cinema. *scratch*

BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAHBAHBAHBAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAAAAAAAAH BAH

 

Edited January 17 by SuperBacon

[SuperBacon]

The ones so far.

On 1/11/2024 at 7:17 PM, mim731 said:

Couldn't decide whether this should go in Dull Men's Club, or in here, so apologies if the wrong thread. Odeon was my local cinema in London growing up, so this brought back some excellent childhood memories. Might be of interest to a few others. 

 

 

 

On 1/11/2024 at 8:58 PM, SuperBacon said:

The Richmond Odeon at the top of the hill was an absolutely beautiful regal building with a massive pit in front and ornamental decor.

Pretty much my only Cinema going experience until I was around 13. Kingston was just as wonderful, with a really unique lobby/foyer and the building still stands today as Pryzm.

Edit: good thread idea, someone move it cba.

 

 

On 1/16/2024 at 1:55 AM, Nostalgia Nonce said:

 

I grew up going to an ABC, and so got treated to the Pearl & Dean classic. I once went to the Empire (formerly Odeon) in Sutton Coldfield wearing my Pearl & Dean T-shirt. The girl behind the ticket counter panicked thinking I was a rep making a visit that wasn't on their planner, as Empire's advertising was handled by P&D. *Chortle*

 

 

Lovely example of an atmospheric type, without it going too gimmicky. Clearly not originally built for Odeon, looks more like a Granada or Paramount style. #nerd.

 

On 1/16/2024 at 9:37 AM, mim731 said:

I love those old classic cinema interiors. At the risk of derailing the thread (Bacon might be right, this might be worth splitting out to a separate thread) I always loved going to the Odeon in Muswell Hill as a kid. This is before Muswell Hill became the playground for the uber-rich, when it was just somewhere that had one of three cinemas we could reach by bus (Holloway being another that was absolutely stunning as a building). It's an Everyman now and they've tarted it up, sadly, but the old interiors were beautiful.

 

23 hours ago, Chris B said:

If we're feeling nostalgic for older cinemas, try and see Scala!!! - it's all about the years when the venue in King's Cross was a cheap cinema, which would programme legendary all-nighters, where the audience would be a mixture of weirdoes, future celebs, and weirdo future celebs, who all explain why they love it.*

I'm gutted it was before my time in London. The doc is amazing and while there are still some great independent cinemas in London, I loved the sound and vibe of this.

 

 

*I'm proud of this sentence. Can you spot why?

 

22 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

All the old style cinemas will be cracking Wetherspoons in the near future. 

 

15 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

Sadly that's true of The Peter Cushing in Whitstable - although at least the building is being used for *something*. 

Popped to Whitstable on a day trip and needed the loo, a Wetherspoons is always a safe bet. The toilets were upstairs and it's then I twigged they'd been sited in the old projector booths. The bar is where the screen was, and there's an enormous frieze of cinema goers looking at the back of your neck while you order a drink. 

 

 

5 minutes ago, mim731 said:

I loathe that it's a Wetherspoons, but 100% agree I'm glad it's used for something. It's such a beautiful building with so much history. On a side note Whitstable is lovely, I used to spend a bit of time there as a kid (my Mum's aunt had a caravan a mile or so away when I was young that technically slept 4, but frequently had about 15 various relatives crammed in for holidays) and I always loved the Peter Cushing exhibit at the Whitstable museum.

This reminds me, for years the old Coronet cinema in Holloway Road near where I grew up has been a Spoons for years, but they recently gave it up and it's now going to apparently reopen under new ownership. It's an absolute beauty of a building, so I hope it gets preserved as such. Obviously I'd prefer it was a cinema, but at least it's being kept as something. 

  

 

[Mr_Danger]

Here’s the guy who ran our local lovely old cinema. Wonderful memories of wandering off for a piss and not knowing that sudden peril was just across the counter.

[Chest Rockwell]

"all the problems he'd caused" is putting it mildly 😄

[Mr_Danger]

10 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

"all the problems he'd caused" is putting it mildly 😄

That wasn’t to his victims, that was to the people of North Wales. 

[JLM]

I used to live walking distance (and now about 20 mins driving distance) from The Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. It’s a grade 2 listed building, a refurbished single screen cinema with most of its original features intact. it It originally opened in 1914. Last surviving gaslit cinema in the UK. The street lamp outside is also gas lit and is also protected. 
 

It closed for some much needed maintenance and repair during the pandemic but has thankfully reopened. Any time it closes for a bit people panic and think it’s shutting down,  but it receives Heritage Lottery funding along with other support and donations and thankfully remains wetherspoons-proof.
 

It is the most delightful cinema experience, also has very cheap tickets. Often shows very odd indie and art house movies. Was my go-to spot for the Leeds International Film Festival too. It’s a magical place. 

Edited January 17 by JLM

[Gus Mears]

Our local one is the Odeon at the pleasingly stupid sounding John Halle's Hall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Halle's_Hall

It's from the 15th century, so must be in the running for the oldest UK building with a cinema?

Have to be honest, it's also a bit shit outside of the main screen (above). The concessions area has been minging since I first remember going in the 90's and all the screens except 1 (above) look like they should be showing ITV 4. They've opened up an Everyman down the road at the old Regal Theatre/Gala Bingo from the 30's and it pisses all over Odeon's efforts.

Saying that, this is the entrance you go through (now with colour) where you used to have to pay for your tickets. It was pretty magical as a young'un.

 

Edited January 17 by Gus Mears

[deathrey]

3 minutes ago, JLM said:

I used to live walking distance (and now about 20 mins driving distance) from The Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds. It’s a grade 2 listed building, a refurbished single screen cinema with most of its original features intact. it It originally opened in 1914. Last surviving gaslit cinema in the UK. The street lamp outside is also gas lit and is also protected. 
 

It closed for some much needed maintenance and repair during the pandemic but has thankfully reopened. Any time it closes for a bit people panic and think it’s shutting down,  but it receives Heritage Lottery funding along with other support and donations and thankfully remains wetherspoons-proof.
 

It is the most delightful cinema experience, also has very cheap tickets. Often shows very odd indie and art house movies. Was my go-to spot for the Leeds International Film Festival too. It’s a magical place. 

 

Hyde Park Picture house is an absolute gem. Long may is stand and continue to operate as a cinema. Did you see their social media during the refurb? They detailed lots of stuff throughout but the most fascinating for me was the stuff, essentially rubbish, that they found stuffed behind the seats and the such. Chocolate wrappers from 70 years ago, old crisp packaging, it was like a little history in litterform!

[SuperBacon]

As I mentioned, Richmond really was the best option for us growing up in Isleworth.

As well as the massive Odeon on the hill, there was also a smaller Odeon a couple of minutes away and an arthouse cinema as well, which I think was run by Picturehouse.

Kingston also had a beautifully ornate cinema, and I can't quite remember who ran it but a search says ABC or Granada.

It also housed Options nightclub in the same building, which then became Oceana and now Pryzm, so the lobby is still there in some form.

I don't remember seeing that many films there, as I think by the time I'd moved to Kingston the massive Rotunda had been built with the huge Odeon, but I definitely remember seeing Armageddon there in a packed out screening and only me thinking most of it was funny.

Lovely cinema.

 

[gmoney]

19 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

As I mentioned, Richmond really was the best option for us growing up in Isleworth.

Went here last year, and it was a very nice cinema indeed. Worth mentioning though, that initially they sent us into the wrong screen. We were a bit early, so weren't that concerned that there was nothing playing, but it seemed strange that the lights were off. We sat down and whispered about the oddness of it, and if we were in the right screen. After about 5 minutes I went "oh fuck this, these useless cunts have put us in the wrong fucking screen" to pop my missus, thinking we were in an empty screen, but as soon as I'd said it, from the the pitch black behind us a bloke coughed. "Err, wrong screen I think mate" I said, and we got out hurriedly and sorted it out.  

[Chris B]

The Prince Charles Cinema has been, at times, my second home. They do occasional all-nighters (I've seen ones for Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm St, John Carpenter, Lord of the Rings, and a good few random horror all-nighters), show art-house, cult and foreign films regularly, and do events. 

 

 

Sure, the audiences can be irritating at times, with performative laughter at bad films - but when it works, it works. While I prefer their older, higher, seats, the new ones are comfy enough, better for views and look lovely. It's just a nice space as much as anything else. And they've still got those seats for the smaller upstairs:

It's also got to be up there with least inspiring outside compared to gorgeous inside. Proper horrible 1960s upper, but the outside space itself is fine.

It's also got a really good beer selection downstairs, and is all pretty reasonably priced considering it's just off Leicester Square. 

[mim731]

The Prince Charles is lovely in fairness, many a night spent there over the years. 

[Vegeta]

Not an old cinema

But in one in Cardiff me and my mate went to watch Jason X 

Right before the part he dives through the window 

I said I needed to go to the toilet

I snuck in the row behind without him noticing and just as Jason was about to dive through the window I grabbed his legs and started to pull him under the seat

He starts screaming, a gang of girls start screaming 

They kick me and my mate out him furious me laughing all the way out.

[Jonny Vegas]

Again, not a lovely old building cinema I'm afraid but some lovely old memories.

We were pretty poor when I was a kid and my Mum was always juggling 3 or 4 jobs at a time around raising 3 kids to get by.

One of her jobs was a "secret shopper" for Showcase Cinema. 

The one in Coventry was a bit of a pain in the arse to get to. Nowhere near the area we lived and in a retail park on the outskirts of the city.

It had a Toys R Us at the same complex and we'd always get a look around in there during our occasional trips over (always just a look sadly).

I think it being well out of the way so we never drove past it or saw it unless we were going there to see a film really added to the feeling that going was a big deal or a special occasion.

I remember the cinema having big glass windows all around the entrance that would often be window painted with big designs for current blockbuster releases.

My Mum would need to count how many people were in the screenings, get a popcorn and drink, check the toilets etc. then do a report of how long it took to get tickets, get confectionary and the quality of it etc.

There was also a Haagen-Dazs ice cream section with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, nuts etc. which I never got but to me as a kid seemed like the absolute height of luxury.

We never went to the cinema outwith those occasions and it seemed quite sporadic as from memory the films we saw there seemed to span randomly over a 3 year or so period.

We had a lot of VHS tapes bought from car boot sales and the ex rental bargain bins at the local Blockbuster Video but the cinema was always such a massive treat.

I remember seeing Home Alone 2, Jurassic Park, Aladdin, Batman Forever and The Lion King there for sure.

A few years ago I was back home visiting and talking about how much I love taking my kids to the cinema and how much I loved going to The Showcase back in the day. My Mum told me she only ever took the job because she worked out it paid just enough to cover the cost of tickets for myself, my brother and sister as they obviously only covered the costs for her one ticket and a drink/popcorn to review.

It was a way for her to let us have a treat that she couldn't afford otherwise without having to be away from us.

God bless her.

Edited January 17 by Jonny Vegas

[SuperBacon]

That's lovely, thanks for sharing.