This has been done plenty of times before, so I've tried to focus on a few things I didn't see in other reports. Explored pretty much the whole building, including the roof and attic space above the false ceiling. One part we couldn't find a way into at all was the dressing room block behind the fly tower - building plans I have from the bowling alley era also show this section as seemingly totally bricked off from the rest of the site, with only a sealed outside door giving access. I'm wondering if the block was separated and then either left unused or rented out as offices or something. The whole stage/fly tower area certainly looked pretty disused.
There isn't much left of the building's cinema history - you can see a little of the original ceiling in the upper bowling alley, and there's an empty projection room; otherwise they've done a pretty thorough job of gutting it out and rebuilding it.
Poor pictures as my main camera seems to need some repairs, so was just using a point and shoot.
History from Cinema Treasures...
Ball return (the skittle laying machines are all gone
)
Creepy children's bowling shoes
Change machine
Daily Express from 1969!
Laser tag arena upstairs
Original stage area - this has had a ceiling put in, and was full of random household furniture, including 2 bathtubs and these wheelchairs! It's only accessible from a single doorway, as the stage has been totally blocked off. If you looked up through a hole in the ceiling you could appreciate the full height of the massive fly tower. This room looked like it hadn't been used in a long time.
Scenery dock (from the inside)
Old projection room. The projection windows here (albeit bricked up) looked out into a massive void between the auditorium ceiling and the true roof (you've probably seen this in other reports), so I think this can only have been used for projection in the pre-1944 cinema, with the new auditorium having a false ceiling hanging below where the original was.
Lift - this serviced only the 1st floor and I think the ground floor doors opened only to the street for delivery of food/drink etc.
Walk-in fridge
Most of the small basement was pretty empty and obviously hadn't been touched in a long time. Some of it was flooded to a few inches. This huge crawlspace seemed to extend under most of the building, getting smaller and smaller towards the foyer end.
There isn't much left of the building's cinema history - you can see a little of the original ceiling in the upper bowling alley, and there's an empty projection room; otherwise they've done a pretty thorough job of gutting it out and rebuilding it.
Poor pictures as my main camera seems to need some repairs, so was just using a point and shoot.
History from Cinema Treasures...
Ball return (the skittle laying machines are all gone
)
Creepy children's bowling shoes
Change machine
Daily Express from 1969!
Laser tag arena upstairs
Original stage area - this has had a ceiling put in, and was full of random household furniture, including 2 bathtubs and these wheelchairs! It's only accessible from a single doorway, as the stage has been totally blocked off. If you looked up through a hole in the ceiling you could appreciate the full height of the massive fly tower. This room looked like it hadn't been used in a long time.
Scenery dock (from the inside)
Old projection room. The projection windows here (albeit bricked up) looked out into a massive void between the auditorium ceiling and the true roof (you've probably seen this in other reports), so I think this can only have been used for projection in the pre-1944 cinema, with the new auditorium having a false ceiling hanging below where the original was.
Lift - this serviced only the 1st floor and I think the ground floor doors opened only to the street for delivery of food/drink etc.
Walk-in fridge
Most of the small basement was pretty empty and obviously hadn't been touched in a long time. Some of it was flooded to a few inches. This huge crawlspace seemed to extend under most of the building, getting smaller and smaller towards the foyer end.
