1. The History
The Regal Cinema is located in the centre of Rotherham, South Yorkshire. It opened in December 1934. Owned by Thomas Wade Cinemas Ltd of Wrath-upon-Dearne. The first show to grace the 1,800 plus seater was “Girls Please” staring Leslie Howard. Designed by Hull-based architectural firm, Messrs Blackmore & Sykes, it boasted a Conacher Opus 1739 theatre organ installed on a lift in the centre of the Orchestra Pit and a Western Electric(WE) sound system. In addition to the stage it also included three dressing rooms and a café.
By 1937 it was under the ownership of the London & Southern Super Cinemas Ltd. chain. It was then leased to the Odeon circuit in 1946 and re-named “The Odeon”. The café latterly became a Victor Sylvester Dance Studio in the 1960’s. It was then sold by the Rank Organisation to an independent operator in 1975. Now called the Scala Cinema, by 1981 only the Circle was in use. It closed two years’ later in September 1983.
It found a new lease of life as a bingo hall. Initially named Ritz, it was renamed again as a Mecca. In February 2020, it was put up for sale by auction at an asking price of £600,000. Having failed to meet its reserve price, but failed to sell, Mecca continued to use the building until March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The Rank Organisation announced in May 2021 that the Bingo Club would be closed permanently. Plans emerged in October 2021 to demolish the building and erect a residential building consisting of 45 dwellings and three ground floor commercial units. English Heritage weren’t having any of this and Grade II Listed the building in November, following a campaign to prevent demolition.
2. The Explore
Explored a while back now. The place was being whored all over FB so decided not to report it at the time. It was an easy in during the window when it was open but when I went, I didn’t see a soul. It was difficult to photograph as the electricity was off and the colours, like most of these ex-cinema bingo halls, were a touch on the side garish. Interesting place to spend an hour of your time but a real shame about the graff that had started to appear.
3. The Photographs:
Starting off with a couple of full-frontals:
Love the window grills:
This is the shot I was (almost) after:
Couldn’t get enough of the central circular light:
And this was quite a nice feature too:
Bingo master’s break out!
Shame about the crap graff:
View from under the circle:
And up onto the circle:
The modern bar is nothing too special:
And finally, the view back over the stage:
And eyes back down:
The Regal Cinema is located in the centre of Rotherham, South Yorkshire. It opened in December 1934. Owned by Thomas Wade Cinemas Ltd of Wrath-upon-Dearne. The first show to grace the 1,800 plus seater was “Girls Please” staring Leslie Howard. Designed by Hull-based architectural firm, Messrs Blackmore & Sykes, it boasted a Conacher Opus 1739 theatre organ installed on a lift in the centre of the Orchestra Pit and a Western Electric(WE) sound system. In addition to the stage it also included three dressing rooms and a café.
By 1937 it was under the ownership of the London & Southern Super Cinemas Ltd. chain. It was then leased to the Odeon circuit in 1946 and re-named “The Odeon”. The café latterly became a Victor Sylvester Dance Studio in the 1960’s. It was then sold by the Rank Organisation to an independent operator in 1975. Now called the Scala Cinema, by 1981 only the Circle was in use. It closed two years’ later in September 1983.
It found a new lease of life as a bingo hall. Initially named Ritz, it was renamed again as a Mecca. In February 2020, it was put up for sale by auction at an asking price of £600,000. Having failed to meet its reserve price, but failed to sell, Mecca continued to use the building until March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The Rank Organisation announced in May 2021 that the Bingo Club would be closed permanently. Plans emerged in October 2021 to demolish the building and erect a residential building consisting of 45 dwellings and three ground floor commercial units. English Heritage weren’t having any of this and Grade II Listed the building in November, following a campaign to prevent demolition.
2. The Explore
Explored a while back now. The place was being whored all over FB so decided not to report it at the time. It was an easy in during the window when it was open but when I went, I didn’t see a soul. It was difficult to photograph as the electricity was off and the colours, like most of these ex-cinema bingo halls, were a touch on the side garish. Interesting place to spend an hour of your time but a real shame about the graff that had started to appear.
3. The Photographs:
Starting off with a couple of full-frontals:
Love the window grills:
This is the shot I was (almost) after:
Couldn’t get enough of the central circular light:
And this was quite a nice feature too:
Bingo master’s break out!
Shame about the crap graff:
View from under the circle:
And up onto the circle:
The modern bar is nothing too special:
And finally, the view back over the stage:
And eyes back down:
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