Tuesday 16 July 2019

Regal Cinema, Bacup

History

Located in a good position very near to the centre of this attractive little Lancashire town. Built on the site of the Bacup Public Hall/Gem Cinema/Kozy Picture House. It opened on 7th September 1931 as the New Regal Super Cinema with 960 seats split between stalls and balcony. It is constructed of stone with a largely white faience facade the circular shield once spelt out ‘Regal’ but has been changed to bingo. It was designed by local architect Harry Cropper and the auditorium side-walls had painted panels of scenic views decorated by Messrs Goodalls of Manchester.

Above the diminutive entrance is a large stained glass window which lights the circle foyer. It has a particularly wide proscenium for a relatively small cinema at 45 feet wide. It was taken over by the Leeds based Star Cinemas chain in around 1959. It was closed as a cinema in the late-1960’s, and converted into the New Embassy Bingo Club, later to be re-named Roxy Bingo Club.

The bingo club closed in the early-2000’s, and the building put up ‘For Sale’ at 45,000 GB Pounds, reflecting the property’s need for upgrading. Despite the estate agents warning, the building is solidly constructed and appears superficially to be sound, but there seems to have been some vandalism inside.

Source:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3348

Esoteric Eric







2 comments:

  1. Hi there,
    my father was a projectionist at the regal in the 1960's
    we had a little tied house around the corner. Sadly, my dad died in 2001 in London where he and my mum are from,and although we moved back to London in 1968-69 he often spoke of the regal with much fondness he loved the interior. He went on to show films at the odeon Leicester square and piccadilly circus as a chief projectionist and i was lucky enough to see plenty of films for free ! Im 59 now and havent been back to Bacup since we left when i was 7 but i can still remember standing outside with dad all those years ago. Hope something good happens to this building eventually. Isnt it a listed building, art deco.

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    1. Thank you for your comment, it's always nice to hear from people with connections to these spaces. Unfortunately the building is not listed however, in September last year it was reported the town had won 1.1m in heritage funding and the building is one of 29 proposed to be restored or repurposed.

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