EMD Cinema

Located in the northeast London district of Walthamstow. Originally on this site had stood the Victoria Picture Theatre, which was purchased by Sydney Bernstein in 1928. The Granada Theatre was the second Granada Theatre to be opened in the expanding Granada Theatres chain, and opened on 15th September 1930 with “Splinters”. Designed by Cecil Masey in a Spanish Moorish style, the cinema had a restaurant, located to the left of the entrance over shop units. The interior design was by Russian set designer Theodore Komisarjevsky, who went on the design the interiors of many more Granada cinemas. The large main foyer is in a Spanish Baroque style with huge mirrors on the walls, and furniture designed especially for the theatre by Komisarjevsky.

In the auditorium seating was provided for 2,697 in stalls and circle levels. There is a large fully equipped stage, but no fly tower. The Granada Theatre was equipped with a 12Ranks Christie organ, which had two 3Manual consoles, one in the orchestra pit and another on the stage level. The stage was put to use many times in the 1950’s and 1960’s with Pantomime’s at Christmas, and one night pop show staring the likes of The Beatles etc. It was while setting up for a concert by the Duke Ellington Band, that the orchestra pit was filled-in with concrete, which encased the orchestra pit console of the Christie organ, leaving only the on-stage console playable.

In October 1973, the Granada Theatre was tripled, with 944 seats in the former balcony, using the original projection box and proscenium. The two min-cinemas in the rear stalls under the circle each seated 182 and had a new projection box installed. The front stalls area became unused, with seating removed. The Granada Theatre was given a Grade II Listing by English Heritage on 24th February 1987.

In January 1989, it was taken over by the Cannon Group and re-named Cannon. By July 1995, the Virgin Group had taken over and it was re-branded again. ABC took over from 3rd May 1996, and it was re-named ABC. In around 2000, the ABC chain was taken over by Odeon Theatres Ltd, and although it retained the ABC name, it was soon closed by Odeon. They put a stipulation on any sale of the building, that it could never screen English language films again.

The cinema was purchased by an independent operator, and it was re-named EMD Cinema, screening East Indian (Bollywood) films. After a court battle, he gained permission to screen regular films again, and the EMD was once again a popular cinema in Walthamstow. It closed as the EMD Cinema in January 2003 with the film “The Smallest Show On Earth” starring Peter Sellers, plus a final concert on the stage console of the Christie organ, and a live variety show.

It had been sold (at a price that was too good to refuse) to a dubious quasi-religious organisation the United Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) who are based in Brazil. They planned to convert the building into church use and a ‘help centre’. This use was refused by the local council and their decision was backed up by a Public Inquiry that stated the building must be retained in cinema use for the local community. The ‘church’ appealed again and were refused a second time. Several cinema chains have been interested in re-opening the building, but the ‘church’ hiked the asking price, and they were deterred. UCKG were then set a date in November 2011, to decide what to do with the building, and after the deadline had passed, they decided to apply again and take the case to a second Public Inquiry, which was due to take place in summer of 2012. This was cancelled when UCKG applied for use as a ‘community centre’. Again, this use was refused and by autumn 2012, UCKG are appealing the refusal.

The former restaurant is still open, but is now a pub. In the meantime, the cinema building has been boarded up, but initially was not secured enough, and within weeks of closing there was an illegal ‘rave’ held inside, then squatters took over. In the extremely bitter-cold winter of early-2011, water pipes burst, flooding the front stalls area.

The former Granada Theatre is now a Grade II* Listed building.

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