Cannon Wakefield

The Regal Cinema was designed by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) in-house architect William R. Glen, and opened on 9th December 1935. It has a town centre location on Kirkgate at the corner of Sun Lane facing into, and visible from, the town centre.

Not as large as some later ABC houses the Regal Cinema accommodated 1,594 but had a full stage 26 feet deep behind the 43 feet wide proscenium. The interior was rather plainer than many of Glen’s cinemas with concealed lighting under the balcony and at the rear of the ceiling and pendant fittings casting light upwards towards the front of the cinema.

It was renamed ABC in 1962 and became a triple operation from 11th November 1976 with screen 1 seating 532 in the balcony using the original screen and projection suite and screen 2 (236 seats) and 3 (170 seats) in the rear stalls area.

It wa taken over by Cannon Cinemas chain in April 1986, and was renamed Cannon. It closed in 1997 following the Cineplex multi-screen cinema opening in December 1996 and has been empty and for sale since. A covenant restricting its use to film exhibition has been the reason the site has not been redeveloped or alternative uses found for the building.

Recent comments (view all 15 comments)

lostmemory on December 23, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Here are a few more recent interior photos.

ticktock11 on December 25, 2007 at 8:30 am

Be SURE to follow the blog link posted above on Dec. 20. Fabulous—and sad—shots of this place.

Ian on December 25, 2007 at 8:52 am

Some more photos before closure here:–

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RobertR on December 26, 2007 at 5:53 am

Very sad shots in spite of the flooding this place could have easily been restored.

lostmemory on January 15, 2008 at 4:46 pm

Here is a recent night view.

lostmemory on July 12, 2008 at 6:08 pm

This is a 2008 exterior view.

lostmemory on September 11, 2008 at 4:25 pm

Some nice recent photos, mostly of the interior can be seen here.

lostmemory on September 23, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Here is another exterior view.

KenRoe on May 24, 2009 at 3:42 pm

A view from the rear of the circle in 2009, twelve years after closing:
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terry on January 31, 2013 at 1:28 pm

The last name this cinema was known buy was the A B C.

I used to do managerial relief stints here in the 1970’s whilst based initially at A B C Wigan and subsequently A B C Huddersfield. This was still a single auditorium then with stalls and circle and the stage still had occasional use.