Classic Barrow-in-Furness
47-53 Cavendish Street,
Barrow-in-Furness,
LA14 1QD
47-53 Cavendish Street,
Barrow-in-Furness,
LA14 1QD
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Brennan's Cinemas Ltd., Classic Cinemas (UK), Odeon Theatres Ltd., Rank Organisation
Architects: Francis Edison Drury, Joseph G. Gomersall
Firms: Drury & Gomersall
Functions: Restaurant
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Royalty Theatre, Roxy Cinema, Odeon
Nearby Theaters
Located on the corner of Cavendish Street and Dalkeith Street. The Royalty Theatre was built in 1872, and was remodeled by an architect named Mackintosh in 1894. It was closed as a live theatre in 1937.
The building was remodeled by the architectural firm Drury & Gomersall in a Streamline Moderne style. Reopening as the Roxy Cinema on 9th August 1937 with Errol Flynn in "Charge of the Light Brigade". It was now operating as a ‘super cinema’ under the ownership of the James Brennan chain.
The Roxy Cinema was taken over by the Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd. on 21st July 1943, and it was re-named Odeon on 5th November 1945.
It was sold by the Rank Organisation to the Classic Cinemas chain on 17th December 1967, and was re-named Classic. The Classic was closed on 15th May 1976. In 1978, it was converted into Champers nightclub, which closed in 1984.
The building lay empty until 1991, when it was re-opened as the Manhattan nightclub. This too had closed by 2004, and the auditorium has remained unused. There was a Paolo Gianni’s restaurant operating in the former foyer space on the side of the building, which now operates as the Teatro Italian restaurant.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
It would have a thrill to see Errol Flynn in “THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE” there on that large screen.Pity they are about all gone,Great Actors and Great Theatres.
The auditorium had a fairly narrow proscenium which was fine for standard widescreen films (1.66 or 1.75) but not for Scope movies; these had to be shown with top down masking.
What is perhaps surprising is that the building still stands today. It is not of any architectural importance and indeed looks rather bleak (as seen in the photos). This one stands while many more architectural significant cinemas have been demolished.