I've always been interested in British cinema and the history of, and indeed the (usually) wonderful art deco architectural design of these, once, wonderful places. A terrible shame such lovely buildings, bursting with life and soul in their heyday, have been subjected to such indiscriminate decimation in recent times..This may be interesting to fans who share an interest in Bill's earlier days, and a little glimpse of 'how things used to be'...just a couple or so pictures and a link to a very short video, maybe only 40 or 50 seconds in length, but nice to see...first time I've seen it (I think), which prompted this post.
"The Regal Cinema was designed by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) in-house architect William R. Glen, and opened on 9th December 1935. It has a town centre location on Kirkgate at the corner of Sun Lane facing into, and visible from, the town centre.
Not as large as some later ABC houses the Regal Cinema accommodated 1,594 but had a full stage 26 feet deep behind the 43 feet wide proscenium. The interior was rather plainer than many of Glen’s cinemas with concealed lighting under the balcony and at the rear of the ceiling and pendant fittings casting light upwards towards the front of the cinema.
It was renamed ABC in 1962 and became a triple operation from 11th November 1976 with screen 1 seating 532 in the balcony using the original screen and projection suite and screen 2 (236 seats) and 3 (170 seats) in the rear stalls area.
It was taken over by Cannon Cinemas chain in April 1986, and was renamed Cannon. It closed in 1997 following the Cineplex multi-screen cinema opening in December 1996 and has been empty and for sale since. A covenant restricting its use to film exhibition has been the reason the site has not been redeveloped or alternative uses found for the building."
The above quote is a contribution made by Ian Grundy to the Cinematreasures website.
I don't even know if the Regal is still standing anymore...probably been demolished for a car park, or 'plaza'🙄, or something.
Lovel building in it's heyday...buildings like this just seemed to pull you in!
Sad sight.
Here's the link to the video...Please bear in mind it's very short
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGCHnJeL2e4
AND, as a brief aside, a little related history fact about ODEON cinemas.
Odeon cinemas were built by Oscar Deutsch, a British businessman and entrepreneur, who opened his first cinema in 1928 and built an empire of nearly 300 Odeon's, before his untimely death in 1941....and!, ODEON stands for: 'Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation'..
Remember the lady that used to come round with the little tubs of ice cream and wooden spoon, Kia Ora (I've still got my early 1970's badge), chocolate, cigarettes etc?..seems like a million years ago.
Thanks for noticing the Friends of ABC/Regal/Cannon Cinema Wakefield Facebook page. Also thanks for this fascinating information. There's surprisingly some information I was unaware of in that little video and I have shared it on the page. Also, it would be lovely to have a nice clean high res of that first photo to add to the album if you have it?
My family used to go to Sun lane baths (swimming pool) next to the Regal ABC cinema every Sunday morning back in the late 1960s .... l remember my mum stepping into what she thought was the shallow end .... it wasn’t 😳 l still remember the look on her face just before she went under .... priceless 😂
l do remember seeing Led Zeppelin’s “the song remains the same“ in quadraphonic at the Regal ABC too .... happy days
So nice to see this brief clip of the old 'Regal' cinema in Wakefield. Brings back so many fond memories. My earliest was going to see 'The Long, Long Trailer' movie starring Lucille Ball. I was only a small boy but was taken to see the film with my Mum and Dad. It has remained in my memory ever since.
Later on I attended the ABC Minor's Saturday morning kids matinees at the Regal, where I enjoyed cowboy shorts and sci-fi serials such as 'Flash Gordon' and 'King Of The Rocketmen.' And, a little later, I actually played for the ABC Minors matinees with my schoolboy band,'The Cosmonauts.'
Later still I made an acquaintance with the man who managed 'The Regal' cinema and was sometimes given cinema posters that had become redundant.
I now have only two of these surviving posters in my possession but, unaware of how valuable they would become in later years, I drew pictures on the reverse side of them with felt pens in an attempt to make posters for bands I was a member of in Wakefield at that time.
The felt pen ink has bled through to the other side of the poster, thus ruining the cinema advertising. I don't know now which would be the more valuable, the original poster or my drawing on the reverse of it.
Nevertheless, 'The Regal' cinema was such an important part of my life in Wakefield, from the 1950s through to the early '70s.
Regal still standing but only just there have been several plans in recent years to demolish redevelop the site all have which have fallen through due to finances and the fact that the ground the cinema stands on is prone to flooding from an ancient subteranean waterway known as the 'Skitterick' which runs the length of Kirkgate down to the river Calder. It had a pumping system in the basement to keep the water levels down and is now completely flooded.
Lots of info on the Regal/ABC and others (checkout the Bradford Odeon which is being restored as a concert venue) on the friends facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ABCWakefield/posts/?ref=page_internal
Thanks for this. Had forgotten the meaning of ODEON. The short video with that Wurlitzer was very nice. If the Deco ‘REGAL’ sign was still in place it might be less of a sad sight. The amount of seating is incredible.