ABC Hackney

Located in the east London district of Hackney. The Regal Cinema was built for Associated British Cinemas and designed by their in-house architect William R. Glen. It was a very difficult triangular site, bounded on the corner of Mare Street and Wells Street and Glen worked wonders to fit in such a large and well designed cinema on the site.

The Regal Cinema opened on 16th March 1936 with George Raft in “Woman Tamer” (She Couldn’t Take It) and Wallace Berry in “O'Shaughnessy’s Boy”. The cinema led an uneventful life serving the people of Hackney with the ABC film releases and from 15th January 1962 it was re-named ABC. The ABC was closed on 1st March 1975 with Burt Reynolds in “The Mean Machine” (The Longest Yard). It was closed up and remained so until 10th January 1977 when it was taken over by an Independent operator and re-opened as the Mayfair Cinema and this ran until it finally closed on 7th March 1981 with Jack Lemmon in “Tribute” and the animation film “Instant Sex”.

From 27th October 1982, the stalls area was converted into a snooker club and a false ceiling was hung across from the underside of the balcony to the proscenium, the balcony became derelict and unused. The Snooker club closed in 1994 and the building remained un-used until it was demolished in July 1998. Housing has now been built on the site.

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