Princess Cinema
168-170 North Promenade,
Blackpool,
FY1 1RE
168-170 North Promenade,
Blackpool,
FY1 1RE
2 people
favorited this theater
Opened as the Princess Electric Theatre on 12th December 1912 with 905 seats, it was enlarged to the designs of architect Halstead Best, and reopened as the 1,770-seat Princess Cinema on 10th July 1922.
It was taken over by Associated British Cinema(ABC) in 1929 and was in addition to their Hippodrome Theatre (Church Street) a former live theatre which continued under ABC to present summer shows, leaving the Princess Cinema the pick of the circuit’s films. This continued after the Hippodrome Theatre was largely demolished and a new ABC theatre constructed, as the new ABC also had a frequently used stage.
However after the ABC (Church Street) was tripled in 1981 the Princess Cinema became surplus to requirements and was closed.
Use as an indoor market, and a ‘street’ of bars followed but more often than not the building was closed. The attractive Hathernware faiance tiled facade is now looking uncared for but the building has had a new roof in recent years.
It became the Bizness nightclub, then the Waterfront nightclub and currently it is known as Sanuk nightclub.
Contributed by
Ian Grundy
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Here is a photo of the former Princess Cinema.
Here is photograph I took of the ABC Princess Cinema in June 1963:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/244008287/
Saw ‘Paint Your Wagon’ at the ABC Princess in 70mm in 1969. Not the best of 70mm theatres, though the sound was reasonable.
Finished off my work as a projectionist here in 1978.