Sorry for the late posting of this, i had hoped to get back for a second look but ive had more important things to do lately!
This theatre is one of a pair on Westover road that i have been waiting to have a crack at for what seems like forever. The closure of this and the ABC next door has been on the cards for years due to Odeon (who owned both buildings) building a new multiplex in the town..
Cinema treasures provides a good overview of this history of this one..
Here's what it looked like originally, unfortunately the dome is long gone. The roof had been remodelled at some point and they must have just done away with it. As you will see however, all was not lost! Read the report and then come back to this picture to see what you can spot.
The explore was a tad edgy. At first i thought it was unlikely i would get in, indeed the ABC next door looked more of a goer but before having a crack at that i thought id just check one thing and what do you know it worked! We were in here so long i never got time to try the ABC in the end.
Upon entering it was clear there was some kind of alarm system so the PIR dodging began. It was surprising how much you could see without having to go past one but eventually we did have to make a run past a couple and the alarm didn't sound so we assumed at the time it must have been deactivated.
We headed into the lower screens first.. i didn't even bother to look at the three built in the rear of the stalls as they were unlikely to contain anything old. The one built near the stage end however was quite interesting with the original stage still intact.
Each side of the stage a stairwell took you down into the basement where there were ventilation fans and boilers. Heading up there were a number of rooms containing assorted cinema crap but many doors were locked so there is probably more to see than what i have photos of.
Heading back to the lobby we found our way up to where the circle bar would have been. There was a small screen built here not long before the place closed.
Into the main screen. It was almost pitch black so i fumbled my way up to the projection booth and managed to fire up some illumination.
The projection booths were all pretty modernised and uninteresting but i did manage to find a few rooms containing old kit. I thought the shelving was interesting sprayed with the original address..
Back into the main screen and after a little bit more poking about i found what i had been looking for. The remains of the original theatres decor. The walls behind the screen still had the remains of hand painted murals and after a bit of climbing you could get right close up to the original proscenium arch. Note the PCT initials of the company that first ran the place.
After a couple of hours clambering about we decided to call it a night but were surprised to hear an alarm whaling as soon as we opened the door back into the circle bar area. Ive no idea if we had triggered it on the way in and it was just extremely slow to get going or if someone had been in and reset the thing while we were inside.. It all seemed a tad strange but we made legs and that was that.. id give it 7/10 but i think next door could be better. What you waiting for??
This theatre is one of a pair on Westover road that i have been waiting to have a crack at for what seems like forever. The closure of this and the ABC next door has been on the cards for years due to Odeon (who owned both buildings) building a new multiplex in the town..
Cinema treasures provides a good overview of this history of this one..
cinema treasures said:
Here's what it looked like originally, unfortunately the dome is long gone. The roof had been remodelled at some point and they must have just done away with it. As you will see however, all was not lost! Read the report and then come back to this picture to see what you can spot.
Upon entering it was clear there was some kind of alarm system so the PIR dodging began. It was surprising how much you could see without having to go past one but eventually we did have to make a run past a couple and the alarm didn't sound so we assumed at the time it must have been deactivated.
We headed into the lower screens first.. i didn't even bother to look at the three built in the rear of the stalls as they were unlikely to contain anything old. The one built near the stage end however was quite interesting with the original stage still intact.
Each side of the stage a stairwell took you down into the basement where there were ventilation fans and boilers. Heading up there were a number of rooms containing assorted cinema crap but many doors were locked so there is probably more to see than what i have photos of.
Heading back to the lobby we found our way up to where the circle bar would have been. There was a small screen built here not long before the place closed.
Into the main screen. It was almost pitch black so i fumbled my way up to the projection booth and managed to fire up some illumination.
The projection booths were all pretty modernised and uninteresting but i did manage to find a few rooms containing old kit. I thought the shelving was interesting sprayed with the original address..
Back into the main screen and after a little bit more poking about i found what i had been looking for. The remains of the original theatres decor. The walls behind the screen still had the remains of hand painted murals and after a bit of climbing you could get right close up to the original proscenium arch. Note the PCT initials of the company that first ran the place.
After a couple of hours clambering about we decided to call it a night but were surprised to hear an alarm whaling as soon as we opened the door back into the circle bar area. Ive no idea if we had triggered it on the way in and it was just extremely slow to get going or if someone had been in and reset the thing while we were inside.. It all seemed a tad strange but we made legs and that was that.. id give it 7/10 but i think next door could be better. What you waiting for??
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