Category: Cinemas
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Memling Cinema, Bruges.
When most people go abroad the first thing they search for is restaurants, supermarkets, museums etc. Me? Well, I look for abandoned and closed down cinemas. Bruges was no exception. I’d started hunting down old cinemas in Bruges a couple of weeks before I even got there. There was just one. The Memling Cinema. In…
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New Tivoli Cinema, Sheffield.
Just across the Peace Gardens from the Town Hall in Sheffield is this building that I’ve been meaning to find out more about for ages. I’ve walked past here many times each time making a mental note to find out more. This time I did. The building always seemed a odd fit for a Browns…
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The Lost Cinemas of Chester-Le-Street.
I paid a quick trip to Chester-Le-Street in County Durham last weekend. It’s an unusual hobby I know but whenever I visit a place I have never been before I try to find out how many cinemas any town I visit has and the age of them. I was pleased to find out the Chester-Le-Street…
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Scala, London.
Just around the corner from The London Lighthouse and just down the road from King’s Cross Station is the Scala. A nightclub with a long history that has always been fascinating to me as a cinephile. Originally opened as the Kings Cross Cinema in 1920, construction was delayed for a few years by the start…
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Lansdowne Picture Palace, Sheffield
Just at the top end of London Road in Sheffield is a Budgens supermarket with a rather elaborate frontage. Over the years it’s been many different things. From a cinema to a convenience shop, here is the history of that elaborate building. Originally the building was a cinema with seating for around 1,250 which was…
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Odeon, Flat Street, Sheffield.
This place has always interested me, these days it’s a bingo hall, but still shows a lot of it’s previous use from the outside. The construction on the building began in 1939. This was for a new Odeon Theatre for the Oscar Deutsch chain Odeon Theatres Ltd who owned and operated many cinemas at the…
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The Beatles In Sheffield.
I’ve always had a love of the Beatles. A band that had broken up before I was even born. I think it was because both my parents were Beatles fans and had both seen them perform live at the Granada Cinema, East Ham on the 9th of November 1963. As a small child the music…
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Cannon Cinema, Rotherham.
I’ve been meaning to come here for a while. Opened in 1913 as The Empire. At that time there would have been one huge screen in the same design as a theatre. Over time it was purchased by the Essoldo then the ABC (Associated British Cinema) chains. In 1978, the top balcony was converted into…
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Scala Rotherham.
When opened in 1934 the original name of this cinema was The Regal. It featured 1825 seats along with three dressing rooms and a café. On opening night the first movie shown was Girls Please starring Leslie Howard. As an added draw for the crowds, the famous comedian Sandy Powell attended (pictured below). The cinema…
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The Facination with Cinemas that are no longer there
I’m often fascinated with an era that I’ll never see again and places that I’ll never experience. I grew up in London in the late 1980’s. Cinema was in it’s decline due to the advent of the video shop. It was easier and cheaper to rent a video cassette from the local video rental shop…
The History Hunter 