The ABC Westover, originally the Westover Super Cinema opened on the 19th June 1937. It was built for and operated by Associated British Cinemas (ABC), and was designed by their architect William Riddle Glen, featuring all the art deco flamboyance that one would expect of the period.
The cinema replaced the adjacent Westover Palace Cinema and provided seating for 2,515 patrons across the stalls and circle level. In addition to the cinema itself were a large restaurant and balcony café. Whilst the Westover Road frontage occupies a very narrow plot, this leads to a much larger structure spanning all the way to Hinton Road.
In September 1969 the cinema closed for almost a year to undergo a major transformation to split the auditorium into two screens. Within the auditorium all of the original decoration was removed providing a more modern finish, the two new screens were known as ABC 1 in the former circle and ABC 2 in the former stalls, seating 644 and 982 respectively. At the same time both the foyer area and façade were heavily altered to match the new look.
In 1973 the ABC 2 screen was subdivided again, creating the much smaller 223 seat ABC 3, with the ABC 2 now holding 587. In 1983 the cinema was taken over by the Cannon Group, leading to a name change, then in 1992 it was taken over by MGM leading to a further rebrand. In 1996 a management buyout returned the ABC name to the cinema, which endured despite being taken over by Odeon in 2000. The cinema along with the nearby former Gaumont closed in 2017 after Odeon built a new multiplex nearby.
Visited with @dweeb whilst we were on a conveniently planned weekend away last summer. We had previously visited Bournemouth earlier in the year with @Humpa, failing to access the ABC we spent an evening in the Gaumont. On our second attempt whilst making our way in we were joined by a group of local youths, one then preceded to fall off the roof that we were on and splatted himself a storey or two down, fortunately he seemed to survive without major injury so we decided to bounce and leave his friends to sort him out. We ended up going back into the Gaumont instead that night, we returned the next evening to finally get the ABC cracked.
The ABC has already been covered several times by others, however they make for grim viewing due to the 1969 twinning. Undeterred our main ambition was to try and find some unruined bits that may be lurking behind the scenes. The building as mentioned is enormous and contains countless long disused spaces so makes for a good explore in any case.
Works are planned to completely redevelop both the ABC and former Gaumont into apartment complexes.
Interspersed with my photos are various archive images taken from Cinema Treasures.
The façade and foyer in full art deco glory, pictured in 1937.
Safe to say modernisation somewhat spoilt the foyer!
Conveniently someone had dislodge some of the modern ceiling revealing a glimpse of the original décor, after an unpleasant climb we managed to get into the remnants of what used to be the balcony café.
As it once looked, again from 1937. The modern photograph shows the piece of ceiling in the upper left corner of this image. The hole being where the recessed light fitting used to be.
An angle not too dissimilar to the archive photograph, you can make out where the balcony railings used to be if you look at the curved edge of the concrete slab. The original metalwork that held the ornate plaster ceiling still exists.
Looking in the other direction towards the windows in the original façade, now concealed.
At the far end the circle signage remains at what was once the top of the grand staircase visible in the archive image of the foyer.
The frontage picture in 1969 shortly before the closure for twinning, even at this stage it had already been altered with some of the finer detailing having been removed and ABC lettering added.
The frontage pictured upon reopening after the modernisation, with the new plainer façade.
A nice find in this space were remnants of the ABC lettering.
The older façade still exists behind the modern replacement, unfortunately we couldn't access the upper parts above the sign board.
The auditorium as it originally looked immediately prior to opening
An excerpt from a brochure detailing the planned modifications.
Modern day images of ABC 1 which was constructed within the former circle area. There is a photograph within the Historic England Norman Walley collection of this area shortly after the twinning, and it did actually look quite decent - but hard to not feel pained at what was lost!
The original projection room was retained for ABC 1. A new one was created downstairs to serve ABC 2, before being altered again when ABC 3 was formed.
I neglected to take any external photographs despite the multiple visits, so here's a nice one (again from Cinema Treasures) taken at closure.
The cinema replaced the adjacent Westover Palace Cinema and provided seating for 2,515 patrons across the stalls and circle level. In addition to the cinema itself were a large restaurant and balcony café. Whilst the Westover Road frontage occupies a very narrow plot, this leads to a much larger structure spanning all the way to Hinton Road.
In September 1969 the cinema closed for almost a year to undergo a major transformation to split the auditorium into two screens. Within the auditorium all of the original decoration was removed providing a more modern finish, the two new screens were known as ABC 1 in the former circle and ABC 2 in the former stalls, seating 644 and 982 respectively. At the same time both the foyer area and façade were heavily altered to match the new look.
In 1973 the ABC 2 screen was subdivided again, creating the much smaller 223 seat ABC 3, with the ABC 2 now holding 587. In 1983 the cinema was taken over by the Cannon Group, leading to a name change, then in 1992 it was taken over by MGM leading to a further rebrand. In 1996 a management buyout returned the ABC name to the cinema, which endured despite being taken over by Odeon in 2000. The cinema along with the nearby former Gaumont closed in 2017 after Odeon built a new multiplex nearby.
Visited with @dweeb whilst we were on a conveniently planned weekend away last summer. We had previously visited Bournemouth earlier in the year with @Humpa, failing to access the ABC we spent an evening in the Gaumont. On our second attempt whilst making our way in we were joined by a group of local youths, one then preceded to fall off the roof that we were on and splatted himself a storey or two down, fortunately he seemed to survive without major injury so we decided to bounce and leave his friends to sort him out. We ended up going back into the Gaumont instead that night, we returned the next evening to finally get the ABC cracked.
The ABC has already been covered several times by others, however they make for grim viewing due to the 1969 twinning. Undeterred our main ambition was to try and find some unruined bits that may be lurking behind the scenes. The building as mentioned is enormous and contains countless long disused spaces so makes for a good explore in any case.
Works are planned to completely redevelop both the ABC and former Gaumont into apartment complexes.
Interspersed with my photos are various archive images taken from Cinema Treasures.
The façade and foyer in full art deco glory, pictured in 1937.
Safe to say modernisation somewhat spoilt the foyer!
Conveniently someone had dislodge some of the modern ceiling revealing a glimpse of the original décor, after an unpleasant climb we managed to get into the remnants of what used to be the balcony café.
As it once looked, again from 1937. The modern photograph shows the piece of ceiling in the upper left corner of this image. The hole being where the recessed light fitting used to be.
An angle not too dissimilar to the archive photograph, you can make out where the balcony railings used to be if you look at the curved edge of the concrete slab. The original metalwork that held the ornate plaster ceiling still exists.
Looking in the other direction towards the windows in the original façade, now concealed.
At the far end the circle signage remains at what was once the top of the grand staircase visible in the archive image of the foyer.
The frontage picture in 1969 shortly before the closure for twinning, even at this stage it had already been altered with some of the finer detailing having been removed and ABC lettering added.
The frontage pictured upon reopening after the modernisation, with the new plainer façade.
A nice find in this space were remnants of the ABC lettering.
The older façade still exists behind the modern replacement, unfortunately we couldn't access the upper parts above the sign board.
The auditorium as it originally looked immediately prior to opening
An excerpt from a brochure detailing the planned modifications.
Modern day images of ABC 1 which was constructed within the former circle area. There is a photograph within the Historic England Norman Walley collection of this area shortly after the twinning, and it did actually look quite decent - but hard to not feel pained at what was lost!
The original projection room was retained for ABC 1. A new one was created downstairs to serve ABC 2, before being altered again when ABC 3 was formed.
I neglected to take any external photographs despite the multiple visits, so here's a nice one (again from Cinema Treasures) taken at closure.
