Classic Cartoon Cinema

The Tatler News Theatre, Church Street, in Liverpool city centre, was the first news and cartoon cinema in the city. It opened on Monday 19th February 1934, and was run by Edwin Haigh and his son John. In 1936 it was taken over by Capitol & Provincial News Theatres Ltd. (later to become Classic Cinemas).

The Tatler News Theatre had seating for 600, 200 of them in the balcony. The cinema was designed from an existing construction fronting Church Street and Williamson Street. It is said that great ingenuity had to be exercised in order to comply with all the regulations of the public authorities. The contractors were John Rimmer and Son. The cinema suffered damage from German bombs in 1941, and temporary repairs were carried out. In 1946 a second news theatre, the Liverpool News Theatre opened in Clayton Square, operated by the Jacey Cinemas chain. Full repairs were carried out to the Tatler News Theatre in 1951.

The entrance in Church Street was lined with marble and brilliantly lit by means of neon display signs and tubular lights in tiers. The projection room housed two Ross projectors with Kalee Vulcan arcs. The sound system was RCA. After the closure of the Classic Chester, the Simplex machines from there were installed in the Tatler News Theatre.

On the 25th September 1968 the Tatler News Theatre closed, and reopened as the Classic Cinema on the 4th October 1968 with Audrey Hepburn in “War and Peace”. It closed again in 1969 with Rex Harrison in “Doctor Doolittle”. It re-opened on 8th September 1969, this time as the Tatler Cinema Club with the Swedish film “I, A Woman” and continued screening uncensored films. This lasted three years. Closing once again it was turned into the Classic Cartoon Cinema. This opened on the 23rd December 1972. After only three months it closed as a cinema for good and was used for retail. In 2017 it was occupied by a Clarks shoe store.

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