Cannon Bristol Road
5 Bristol Road,
Birmingham,
B5 7TT
5 Bristol Road,
Birmingham,
B5 7TT
7 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Associated British Cinemas Ltd., Cannon Cinemas
Architects: C. 'Jack' Foster, Alan Morgan, Archibald Hurley Robinson
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Bristol Cinema, ABC Bristol Road, ABC Cinerama, ABC 1-2-3
Nearby Theaters
Located in the Edgbaston district, just a short distance from Birmingham city centre. Quite a large cinema with very modern frontage and grand foyer, the Bristol Cinema opened on 16th May 1937 with Jane Wyatt in “Luckiest Girl in the World” and Richard Tauber in “Land Without Music”. It was owned by the Victoria Playhouse Group. Seating was provided in stalls and circle and the overal decorative scheme was a nautical Art Moderne style which had decorative plaster galleons of the Bristol sailing ship on each side of the proscenium, and it was initially these which gave the cinema its name, not the road it was located on. It was taken over by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) from 1st January 1944 and was re-named ABC from August 1959. Closed on 4th May 1963 for conversion into a 3-strip Cinerama theatre to the plans of architect C. ‘Jack’ Foster, assisted by Alan Morgan. It re-opened on 14th September 1963 presenting “How the West Was Won”.
It was divided into a triple-screen operation on September 26, 1972 with seating provided for 482, 353 and 175. In 1986 it was taken over by the Cannon Group and re-named Cannon. It was closed on 24th September 1987, and the building was sold for re-development, demolished later in 1987. The site of the cinema now contains a drive-through MacDonald’s restaurant.
Contributed by
DEREK.L.HUNT
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 22 comments)
Here it is on an ABC News item in October, 1948, showing The Winslow Boy, with some of the stars of the film in attendance, including Margaret Leighton and Neil North. It was then known as the ABC BRISTOL, Birmingham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7mQJeyjv8M
If you can’t click on the above link, copy and paste it into your browser.
The ABC Bristol Road played three strip Cinerama from September 14th 1963 to January 9th 1965. It was then converted to 70mm single lens Cinerama. The Three strip presentations were:– How the West Was Won, 27 weeks. Seven Wonders of the World, 8 weeks. South Seas Adventure, 4 weeks. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 16 weeks. Windjammer, 7 weeks. Search For Paradise, 3 weeks. This is Cinerama, 3 weeks and finally The Best of Cinerama, 4 weeks.
I’m pretty sure this is where I saw “Quadrophenia” in autumn of 1979.
dallasmovietheatres Correct C. Jack Foster was the Head of the ABC in House Architects Department Prior he was PCT’s Architect Jack Foster was assisted by Alan Morgan Modernisation Ltd., was the contractor
The Cinemas was Built for the Victoria Playhouse company and later they sold to ABC
3 screens on September 26th, 1972. Ad posted.
Grand opening ad posted
For showing 70mm films the lower part of the circle centre was cut-away to allow a direct “throw” to the huge screen from the centre-rear stalls. Oddly the adverts in 35mm were shown from the original projection room at the back of the circle. This was odd as the Phillips DP70 projectors favoured by ABC cineams, could show both gauges. Perhps it was easier not to have to alter the projecter between the trailers / ads and the main feature? The manager said that the cinema was profitable up to the day it closed…
Strange I did the odd Management Relief here. The adds-trailers and 35mm supports were shown along with the 70mm feature in the downstairs box The Projectors were Cinemechanica Victoria 8’s They never had Philips DP70’s. Oddly enough this model was installed at The Gaumont Birmingham.. When the ABC was tripled on opening DP75s were installed in Screen ! and 2. Whilst Screen 3 opened with Ross- RCA and cakestand. and a Milbank Amplifier There was a shortage of DP75’s and Lew Grade would not allow EMI to have the set at The Coventry Theatre. and there lies a tale. Much Much later My associate and I removed the DP70’s from the Gaumont and sold them to a company in California