Cannon Great Yarmouth

Regent Road,
Great Yarmouth, NR31

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This was a fantastic structure built as the Regal Cinema which opened on 1st January 1934 with Charles Laughton in “The Private Life og Henry VIII” and James Murray in “The Air Hostess”. Film star Merle Oberon made a personal appearance. It boasted a Compton 2Manual/5Ranks theatre organ. It ran mainly as a cinema but also because of it’s size hosted various stage shows and pop concerts, especially in the summer months when this seaside town was packed with holiday-makers.

Taken over by Union Cinemas in 1936 and operated by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) from 1937, it was operated for the last couple of years of its life by the Cannon Cinema Group and was re-named Cannon Cinema. It closed in late-May 1988 with Eddie Murphy in “Eddie Murphy Raw”

A real loss when with very little fuss it was demolished and in it’s place a fast food outlet, card outlet and charity shop were built.

A real shame!

Contributed by brian robson

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

atmos on March 15, 2007 at 7:42 am

This cinema is in the county of Norfolk.It opened in 1934 and closed in 1988 and had 1500 seats.It was located on Regent Road but don’t know the number.

andygarner on March 15, 2007 at 4:58 pm

Opened on the site of the Theatre Royal in 1934, the architects were F Howard and T Darbyshire of Yates Cook & Derbyshire, as an independant, taken over by Union Cinemas in 1936, then ABC, renamed ABC in 1961,used extensively for summer shows,(the Beatles and many other pop stars appeared there) renamed Cannon and closed in 1988 as it was a difficult theatre to turn into a multiscreen operation.

Ian on March 15, 2007 at 8:00 pm

Scanned image from the 1980’s here:–

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