ABC Dover

The Granada Theatre was built for and operated the Granada chain of cinemas, opening on 8th January 1930 with a seating capacity of 1,717. The opening film was “The Last of Mrs Cheyney” starring Norma Shearer. The architect was Cecil Masey with Granada’s favoured interior designer Theodore Komisarkevsky responsible for the decorations, this theatre being his first full project.

The foyer was built in an 18th Century French style with marble staircase leading to the circle with chandeliers and Venetian mirrors. The auditorium had a Spanish Moorish theme and was very ornate. The Granada Theatre had a full working stage, a 35 feet wide proscenium and a Christie 3Manual organ with lift in the orchestra pit. On 19th June 1935, Granada sold the cinema to Associated British Cinemas(ABC) chain, but it was not renamed ABC until April 1960, and was forever known to local people as the Granada. The Christie organ was removed in 1960, being bought later by an organ enthusiast.

With the decline in film going in 1970 it was modernised into a ‘Luxury Lounge’ cinema using only the stalls area with 610 seats, closing off the circle, reopening on 6th July 1970. The ABC closed as a cinema on 30th October 1982 and was converted into ‘Images’ Night Club. This too has closed and in 2007 the building was bought by the Wetherspoons chain for conversion into a pub, but 12 months on in 2008, work has yet to start.

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

KenRoe on September 29, 2008 at 11:37 pm

Photographs and more history on the Granada Theatre here:
http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/leisure/granada.htm

andybdjuk on January 23, 2011 at 9:46 am

Hi, I worked here when it was night club for 18 years and have been fascinated by the building. A friend and I are in the early stages of collecting photographs from the Granada/ ABC days. We have had a few contacts from a newspaper article we placed in the local news paper and have received a few pictures.
Is there anywhere I can start looking for original plans of the building, technical specs Etc.(especially the stage are and organ lift)

We are also trying to track down the organ but all we can come up with so far is “it was sold"
Andy

JPDJ on January 23, 2011 at 7:25 pm

Hi,

Just to add to Andy’s comments, we are in the process of putting together a project on the former Granada/ABC Cinema in Dover.

We have managed to find (through lots of detective work) a picture of the great chandelier, this is to our knowledge the only picture of the chandelier in existense!!

Does anybody have any pictures, memorobilia or memories that would be kind enough to share with us?

We look forward to hearing from anybody who may be able to assist us.
JP

KenRoe on April 17, 2011 at 5:33 pm

The former Granada/ABC photographed in January 2010:
View link

keiths on June 6, 2011 at 6:10 pm

At least the building seems to have had a coat of paint since the photo at the top was taken…

johnwb on January 4, 2012 at 9:04 pm

If it’s of any interest, I acquired all the RCA microphones and some stands from the cinema.We bought them from the Cinema in the early 1980’s. Beautiful quality equipment as you would expect.At the time we were told all the famous people who had used them over the years.

andybdjuk on January 4, 2012 at 9:44 pm

Hi John It’s fantastic to hear from you. I don’t suppose you still have the mic’s? If you do would you be able to post some pictures of them

Thanks

Andy

johnwb on January 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm

We still have all the equipment. It’s at my dad’s house. It will take a couple of weeks, but next time I see him, I will take my camera.Do you have any photographs of any performers using the mikes? John

andybdjuk on January 6, 2012 at 12:03 pm

Thanks John Never thought about performers so something we could start searching for and a great opertunity todo some more research I will keep you informed Thanks for your time

Andy