The Gloria continues as a single screen cinema. The Gloriette occupies space in a building at the back of the Gloria, reached by an alleyway running alongside the original cinema.
The Pali is one of four cinemas operated by Kinopolis under their Citydome brand in Darmstadt. The other three are situated in and around a small shopping precinct across the town centre: the Festival mainly shows films in their original language, the Rex is the ‘art-house’ cinema while the six screen Helia is the ‘mainstream’ multiplex.
The Rex is one of three cinemas, operated by Kinopolis under their Citydome brand, in a small shopping precinct in the centre of the town. The Rex is the ‘art-house’ cinema (hence the auditoriums are named, rather than numbered), the Festival mainly shows films in their original language while the six screen Helia is the ‘mainstream’ multiplex. During a visit in June 2015 I was warmly welcomed by a member of staff from the Helia who opened up the Rex so I could have a look round (this was in the afternoon; the Rex opens in the early evening). The ‘geography’ of the building was hard to follow, but it didn’t appear as if the original cinema had been sub-divided to create the four screen, as the ‘Rex’ appears to be the full, original space. The opening date of the original Rex is thought to be the 1950s, or possibly earlier.
There seems to be some doubt as to whether the Wetherspoon pub occupies any of the former cinema space. The cinema entrance was to the left of the pub (where Mello Mello Bar is in my photo) and the auditorium presumably stood behind all these street-fronting buildings. So what part of the cinema does the pub occupy? Interestingly, at the rear, there’s what seems to be a derelict backstage area (see my photos), sitting all alone! Was this part of the cinema?? Any thoughts and comments would be most welcome!
Further to Ken’s comments, when I visited, on 1 June 2015 (to see “Wild”), a huge curtain had been slung across the auditorium to mask off the rear stall and circle, where improvement work was being undertaken. An 8.5m screen, with masking, and surround sound, is due to be installed. All this is due to be completed by 3 September 2015, when “The Beaux Stratagem” is set to be the Arts Centre’s first NT Live streaming.
This is a very nice cinema. Unfortunately, however, yet again auditorium space has been sacrificed for extended lounge and bar/restaurant areas. Whilst entirely understandable, this is nevertheless rather regrettable.
As can be seen from my photographs, this is a fantastic pub conversion by J. D. Wetherspoon. The duty manager kindly allowed me to go up to the rear of the former circle, not open to the public, to get a lovely photograph from that splendid vantage point.
On 15 March 2011, J. D. Wetherspoon opened one of their pubs on the ground floor. “The Electrical Wizard” was named after Dr. Walford Bodie, a Scots-born entertainer, known as ‘The Electrical Wizard of the North’, who was famous for his ‘shocking’ magic tricks and the use of a replica electric chair!
By April 2015 the bingo club had been closed for some time, and the empty building, including a small cafe to the front, also closed, was up for sale. Outline planning permission had been granted for conversion into 16 apartments, but alternative uses would clearly be considered.
In a nice nod to the company’s cinemas from the past, five of the new Curzon auditoriums are named Renoir (the largest, with 141 seats plus 9 more in a small balcony), Lumiere, Plaza, Phoenix and Minema (I believe the smallest, with 21 seats). The sixth is the Bertha DocHouse, devoted to showing documentaries; this has it’s own lounge/reception area. Inevitably, shoehorning six auditoriums into a relatively restricted space has led to the five smaller ones being rather cramped.
On Saturday 30th May 2015 I visited the Sherborne, to see the matinee screening of “Paul Blart Mall Cop 2” and to meet up with Mark Cunningham, who I last saw at the Palace, Cinderford, which he has since sold. Mark has created a wonderfully traditional, welcoming feel to the Sherborne, with many very attractive art deco fixtures and fittings – some original, some self-crafted – and he’s even installed an Automaticket machine! Mark spent two years on this project: all that effort has been well worthwhile!
I visited the Maxime on 1st June 2015 and saw “Danny Collins”, starring Al Pacino, in Screen 5. Despite this being one of the smaller auditoriums, it is very well proportioned, very comfortable and has plenty of leg-room. (For the record, Screen 1, in the former front stalls, has 235 seats, Screens 2 and 3, in the former circle, have 110 seats, and Screens 4 and 5, in the former rear stalls, have 72 seats.) Indeed, echoing Jeffrey’s July 2014 comments, the whole cinema has been extremely attractively refurbished and fitted out, the result being a wonderful blend of traditional cinema-going with modern standards of convenience and comfort. Manageress Shelley and her enthusiastic team, who are rightly very proud of their cinema, made me very welcome and allowed me to take the photos that appear here. It was a wonderful experience, and I hope the Maxime can go from strength to strength. As a postscript I e-mailed General Manager Andrew Millar to pass on my compliments and send him the link to this entry.
Further to my ‘Overview’ comments, David Dearle has recently found, amongst his late mother’s personal effects, some letters that he wrote home from Christmas Island in 1959.
In particular, in this letter dated Friday 25th September (not long before he left that deployment in November 1959), he says “I saw the film "Tiger Bay” [J. Lee Thompson/1959] last night and it’s one of the best I’ve seen on the Island. The leading part is taken by a very smart girl of about 12 [who, of course, David now knows was Hayley Mills]. I don’t know whether I told you but I go to the pictures on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday every week…in fact to every film that comes here! I’ve seen films that I wouldn’t dream of seeing if I was at home, everything from Westerns to Horror. We get them about six weeks after [his home town] Southend [in Essex] because by the time I get the ‘Southend Standard’, the films advertised are on here. Mind you we get a lot of old ones thrown in, like “The Sad Sack” [George Marshall/1957] which I saw years ago. Another annoying thing is that we invariably get colour films in black and white and, in a musical, that can ruin the whole impression of the picture."
My thanks to David for sharing this fascinating insight into the films on offer at the Astra. (Judging by his comment about colour films being screened in BW, presumably the Astra used 16mm projection, where the BW versions were much cheaper than the colour originals.)
In June 2011, Cineworld opened “The Screening Rooms”, a three-screen luxury cinema, alongside their existing multiplex. See separate entry for full details.
Despite the extensive damage to the auditorium, and its subsequent demolition, in December 2014 the street frontage remained, albeit (not surprisingly) in very poor condition. See my photos.
In December 2014 (see my photos) the front of the building was still boarded up. However, there was no sale board, and a gym occupies at least part of the building, with its entrance round the side. According to posters still on display by the former entrance, bingo ceased on Tuesday 22 April. This could have been 2003 or, perhaps more likely, 2008.
This brand new multiplex – the first to be constructed by the Empire circuit (which has hitherto been built up from existing cinemas that had to be divested, following circuit takeovers, under competition rules) – is situated in the basement of a high-rise development called The Scene at Cleveland Place, which also provides apartments, retail and restaurant spaces. A small entrance hall leads to steps down to the basement foyer and concession area.
The capacities of the nine screens are: 1: IMPACT large format screen, with 3D capability and 170 seats in total, including a separate VIP seating area; 2: 54 seats; 3: 101 seats (3D); 4: 101 seats (3D); 5: 85 seats; 6: 79 seats; 7: 101 seats (3D); 8: 96 seats and 9: 309 seats in total (including VIP seating area and 3D).
In a nice touch, there are two stand-alone cabinets on the street outside which contain film information posters.
In December 2014 (see my two photographs) the restaurant had been nicely renamed “Picture House”. I visited on a Monday, and unfortunately it was not open. Hopefully it is open on other days of the week.
For the record, Screen 1 (downstairs) seats 66, while Screens 2 and 3 (upstairs) seat 88 and 66 respectively. The cinema is described in Curzon publicity as “bijoux boutique”, and that’s about right! All three screens are very comfortable and well equipped. However, ‘shoe-horning’ three screens into such a relatively small space was always going to be difficult, and the auditoriums do feel very cramped. I was fortunate that the film I saw – “The Imitation Game” – was in the largest screen and there were only a few other patrons for the early afternoon show. However, a larger attendance might well have led to problems with sight-lines – and sitting on the front row would, for me, be far too close.
On a visit in September 2014 I was delighted to see that the frontage had been tidied up and painted to resemble the cinema as shown in an archive photograph helpfully displayed together with other heritage information (yes, the ‘windows’ are merely painted on!).
That information confirms this was the Palladium. It opened in 1937 and closed in May 1969, the final film being “Planet of the Apes”, starring Charlton Heston.
The Gloria continues as a single screen cinema. The Gloriette occupies space in a building at the back of the Gloria, reached by an alleyway running alongside the original cinema.
The Pali is one of four cinemas operated by Kinopolis under their Citydome brand in Darmstadt. The other three are situated in and around a small shopping precinct across the town centre: the Festival mainly shows films in their original language, the Rex is the ‘art-house’ cinema while the six screen Helia is the ‘mainstream’ multiplex.
The Rex is one of three cinemas, operated by Kinopolis under their Citydome brand, in a small shopping precinct in the centre of the town. The Rex is the ‘art-house’ cinema (hence the auditoriums are named, rather than numbered), the Festival mainly shows films in their original language while the six screen Helia is the ‘mainstream’ multiplex. During a visit in June 2015 I was warmly welcomed by a member of staff from the Helia who opened up the Rex so I could have a look round (this was in the afternoon; the Rex opens in the early evening). The ‘geography’ of the building was hard to follow, but it didn’t appear as if the original cinema had been sub-divided to create the four screen, as the ‘Rex’ appears to be the full, original space. The opening date of the original Rex is thought to be the 1950s, or possibly earlier.
This multiplex opened as CinemaxX.
On a visit in April 2015 I confirmed that the Carlton has been demolished. A block of flats stands on the site.
Sadly, on my visit in June 2015 the Regal was very firmly boarded up.
There seems to be some doubt as to whether the Wetherspoon pub occupies any of the former cinema space. The cinema entrance was to the left of the pub (where Mello Mello Bar is in my photo) and the auditorium presumably stood behind all these street-fronting buildings. So what part of the cinema does the pub occupy? Interestingly, at the rear, there’s what seems to be a derelict backstage area (see my photos), sitting all alone! Was this part of the cinema?? Any thoughts and comments would be most welcome!
Further to Ken’s comments, when I visited, on 1 June 2015 (to see “Wild”), a huge curtain had been slung across the auditorium to mask off the rear stall and circle, where improvement work was being undertaken. An 8.5m screen, with masking, and surround sound, is due to be installed. All this is due to be completed by 3 September 2015, when “The Beaux Stratagem” is set to be the Arts Centre’s first NT Live streaming.
This is a very nice cinema. Unfortunately, however, yet again auditorium space has been sacrificed for extended lounge and bar/restaurant areas. Whilst entirely understandable, this is nevertheless rather regrettable.
As can be seen from my photographs, this is a fantastic pub conversion by J. D. Wetherspoon. The duty manager kindly allowed me to go up to the rear of the former circle, not open to the public, to get a lovely photograph from that splendid vantage point.
On 15 March 2011, J. D. Wetherspoon opened one of their pubs on the ground floor. “The Electrical Wizard” was named after Dr. Walford Bodie, a Scots-born entertainer, known as ‘The Electrical Wizard of the North’, who was famous for his ‘shocking’ magic tricks and the use of a replica electric chair!
By April 2015 the bingo club had been closed for some time, and the empty building, including a small cafe to the front, also closed, was up for sale. Outline planning permission had been granted for conversion into 16 apartments, but alternative uses would clearly be considered.
In a nice nod to the company’s cinemas from the past, five of the new Curzon auditoriums are named Renoir (the largest, with 141 seats plus 9 more in a small balcony), Lumiere, Plaza, Phoenix and Minema (I believe the smallest, with 21 seats). The sixth is the Bertha DocHouse, devoted to showing documentaries; this has it’s own lounge/reception area. Inevitably, shoehorning six auditoriums into a relatively restricted space has led to the five smaller ones being rather cramped.
On Saturday 30th May 2015 I visited the Sherborne, to see the matinee screening of “Paul Blart Mall Cop 2” and to meet up with Mark Cunningham, who I last saw at the Palace, Cinderford, which he has since sold. Mark has created a wonderfully traditional, welcoming feel to the Sherborne, with many very attractive art deco fixtures and fittings – some original, some self-crafted – and he’s even installed an Automaticket machine! Mark spent two years on this project: all that effort has been well worthwhile!
I visited the Maxime on 1st June 2015 and saw “Danny Collins”, starring Al Pacino, in Screen 5. Despite this being one of the smaller auditoriums, it is very well proportioned, very comfortable and has plenty of leg-room. (For the record, Screen 1, in the former front stalls, has 235 seats, Screens 2 and 3, in the former circle, have 110 seats, and Screens 4 and 5, in the former rear stalls, have 72 seats.) Indeed, echoing Jeffrey’s July 2014 comments, the whole cinema has been extremely attractively refurbished and fitted out, the result being a wonderful blend of traditional cinema-going with modern standards of convenience and comfort. Manageress Shelley and her enthusiastic team, who are rightly very proud of their cinema, made me very welcome and allowed me to take the photos that appear here. It was a wonderful experience, and I hope the Maxime can go from strength to strength. As a postscript I e-mailed General Manager Andrew Millar to pass on my compliments and send him the link to this entry.
Further to my ‘Overview’ comments, David Dearle has recently found, amongst his late mother’s personal effects, some letters that he wrote home from Christmas Island in 1959.
In particular, in this letter dated Friday 25th September (not long before he left that deployment in November 1959), he says “I saw the film "Tiger Bay” [J. Lee Thompson/1959] last night and it’s one of the best I’ve seen on the Island. The leading part is taken by a very smart girl of about 12 [who, of course, David now knows was Hayley Mills]. I don’t know whether I told you but I go to the pictures on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday every week…in fact to every film that comes here! I’ve seen films that I wouldn’t dream of seeing if I was at home, everything from Westerns to Horror. We get them about six weeks after [his home town] Southend [in Essex] because by the time I get the ‘Southend Standard’, the films advertised are on here. Mind you we get a lot of old ones thrown in, like “The Sad Sack” [George Marshall/1957] which I saw years ago. Another annoying thing is that we invariably get colour films in black and white and, in a musical, that can ruin the whole impression of the picture."
My thanks to David for sharing this fascinating insight into the films on offer at the Astra. (Judging by his comment about colour films being screened in BW, presumably the Astra used 16mm projection, where the BW versions were much cheaper than the colour originals.)
In June 2011, Cineworld opened “The Screening Rooms”, a three-screen luxury cinema, alongside their existing multiplex. See separate entry for full details.
In December 2014 – see my photos – the building remains boarded up.
Despite the extensive damage to the auditorium, and its subsequent demolition, in December 2014 the street frontage remained, albeit (not surprisingly) in very poor condition. See my photos.
In December 2014 (see my photos) the front of the building was still boarded up. However, there was no sale board, and a gym occupies at least part of the building, with its entrance round the side. According to posters still on display by the former entrance, bingo ceased on Tuesday 22 April. This could have been 2003 or, perhaps more likely, 2008.
This brand new multiplex – the first to be constructed by the Empire circuit (which has hitherto been built up from existing cinemas that had to be divested, following circuit takeovers, under competition rules) – is situated in the basement of a high-rise development called The Scene at Cleveland Place, which also provides apartments, retail and restaurant spaces. A small entrance hall leads to steps down to the basement foyer and concession area.
The capacities of the nine screens are: 1: IMPACT large format screen, with 3D capability and 170 seats in total, including a separate VIP seating area; 2: 54 seats; 3: 101 seats (3D); 4: 101 seats (3D); 5: 85 seats; 6: 79 seats; 7: 101 seats (3D); 8: 96 seats and 9: 309 seats in total (including VIP seating area and 3D).
In a nice touch, there are two stand-alone cabinets on the street outside which contain film information posters.
In December 2014 (see my two photographs) the restaurant had been nicely renamed “Picture House”. I visited on a Monday, and unfortunately it was not open. Hopefully it is open on other days of the week.
For the record, Screen 1 (downstairs) seats 66, while Screens 2 and 3 (upstairs) seat 88 and 66 respectively. The cinema is described in Curzon publicity as “bijoux boutique”, and that’s about right! All three screens are very comfortable and well equipped. However, ‘shoe-horning’ three screens into such a relatively small space was always going to be difficult, and the auditoriums do feel very cramped. I was fortunate that the film I saw – “The Imitation Game” – was in the largest screen and there were only a few other patrons for the early afternoon show. However, a larger attendance might well have led to problems with sight-lines – and sitting on the front row would, for me, be far too close.
The Garry can also be seen several times in the horror film “Silent Night” (2012).
On a visit in September 2014 I was delighted to see that the frontage had been tidied up and painted to resemble the cinema as shown in an archive photograph helpfully displayed together with other heritage information (yes, the ‘windows’ are merely painted on!).
That information confirms this was the Palladium. It opened in 1937 and closed in May 1969, the final film being “Planet of the Apes”, starring Charlton Heston.