Grand Cinema
182-186 Lord Street,
Southport,
PR9 0QG
182-186 Lord Street,
Southport,
PR9 0QG
2 people
favorited this theater
Located in the Sefton district of Southport at the corner of Lord Street and Court Street. Originally built in 1923 as a garage and car showroom, it was converted into a luxury cinema in 1938 by architect George E. Tonge. The Grand Cinema opened on 14th November 1938 with Arthur Tracy in "Follow Your Star". The cinema was designed for and operated by an independent operator throughout its cinematic life.
Seating was provided in a stadium plan with a sloping floor at the front (known as the Pit stalls and stepped floor at the rear which was known as the Royal stalls and Grand stalls. An unusual feature was the provision of a balconette which was attached to each sidewall. Seating was provided in pairs all along towards the proscenium. There were decorative grilles each side of the proscenium opening which contained the organ pipes of the Compton 3Manual 6 Ranks organ with Melotone variation which had an illuminated console on a lift, in the centre of the orchestra pit. The organ was opened by Herbert A. Dowson. In the ceiling was a large shallow dome which had a central Art Deco style light fixture. There was a café provided for patrons.
In 1963 the Compton organ was removed to Cheetham Hill Methodist Church in Manchester, which in later years was moved to Chorley Town Hall. In 1966 another Compton organ was installed at the Grand Cinema which had previously been housed in the Regal Cinema, Douglas, Isle of Man since June 1935, and this was opened by Charles Smart.
The Grand Cinema closed on 2nd July 1966 with Sean Connery in "Thunderball" and Peter Cushing in "Hound of the Baskervilles". It was converted into an independent bingo club, and the Compton organ was played to bingo players at the interval during the first few years.
The Grand Cinema last operated as the Stanley Grand Casino, and from 2007 became the Mint Casino, but this was closed by May 2016 and the building is boarded up in early-2017. In May 2022, the owners of the Grand Cinema building proposed plans to transform the site into a 48 storey ‘landmark’. Due to lack of information about the plans of the proposal, the Cinema Theatre Association have contacted the owners for clarification. The Grand Cinema is a Grade II listed building.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
A photo of the Grand, as a bingo hall here:–
View link
It is now called Mint Casino.
View link
The 2nd grand Compton was removed in the 1990`s and reinstalled in a music room in Tarleton-about 7-8 miles outside Southport.Oddly enough ,the first Compton is now being installed in Hesketh Bank(previous at Chorley Town Hall)which is an adjoining Parish.so now both grand organs are now within a couple of miles of each other!
I regret to say that this fabulous building is now empty and under threat of demolition. Please help me to save it!
Best of Luck. I suppose you know it’s a Listed Building? But then, so were the Palace/ABC, and the Palladium/Odeon, but they were demolished. Have you contacted the CTA and English Heritage, and the local press?
Grade 2 and below are not worth the papers they are listed on….
I was lucky enough to visit the grand when it was a Bingo hall in the Late 80s early 90s when i worked for Coral then gala bingo on what they called Seaside Jamboriees …basicaly they were trips to thier seaside clubs shuch as southport, Blackpool ( regent and coral Island) etc from other clubs ( iworked at the ashton under lyne club that used to be the old Pavillion cinema ,still standing luckily as a furniture shop … was bought for that when we left in 1999…but sadly they ripped out a lot of stuff there balcony and plaster work still intact but projection rooms etc have gone) I’m not sure what bingo company owned the grand before (could have been Granada as coral / gala tooK thier bingo clubs over around the same time as i worked for them! loved visiting the old cinema bingo halls back then as Gala in the mid to late 90s started a new build program .Im glad the grand is still standing and has recently took on a new lease of life as the grand Brasseire as of 2022 /2023