So rewind over a month ago and there I am just finishing up editing the photos, ready to do a post when boom, my pc decides to spontaneously shut down instantly and fails to turn on. Brilliant! Well, 6 weeks and nearly £600 later, here I am editing the last 3 I had left! Thankfully the pc is back up and running better than ever now. Whilst this place has ended up everywhere, Mookster beat me to it and did a great post here. I'm now wondering why I'm even posting this but it's part to provide a few more shots and partly out of pure stubbornness to not be defeated by bloody technology!
This place began doing the rounds once again in July, but from a few dodgy torch-lit videos I didn't feel much inspiration to visit what appeared to be a very soggy sorry shell of a building. It was only when I'd arranged to check out a disused school with @Olkka when we found that said school was now a pile of rubble and we were in desperate need of a back up derp. After a quick look at my maps, I had this place pinned and we decided to go and take a look, not knowing what to expect. Access was straightforward, and we were suddenly met with a surprisingly impressive auditorium. The ceiling had collapsed in one corner, allowing for a stream of light from above to trickle down and illuminate the splendid Art Deco stage. Both the lighting and scale still made for a genuinely impressive sight. Don't get me wrong, the place has suffered enormously since it first started being explored over a decade ago, but it still has its merits. Take a look at Speed's report from 2009 showing the cinema in all its glory pre-decay:
This place began doing the rounds once again in July, but from a few dodgy torch-lit videos I didn't feel much inspiration to visit what appeared to be a very soggy sorry shell of a building. It was only when I'd arranged to check out a disused school with @Olkka when we found that said school was now a pile of rubble and we were in desperate need of a back up derp. After a quick look at my maps, I had this place pinned and we decided to go and take a look, not knowing what to expect. Access was straightforward, and we were suddenly met with a surprisingly impressive auditorium. The ceiling had collapsed in one corner, allowing for a stream of light from above to trickle down and illuminate the splendid Art Deco stage. Both the lighting and scale still made for a genuinely impressive sight. Don't get me wrong, the place has suffered enormously since it first started being explored over a decade ago, but it still has its merits. Take a look at Speed's report from 2009 showing the cinema in all its glory pre-decay:
The STATE Cinema - Grays - 16/5/09 | Noteworthy Reports
Now before i say anything you must understand, there is no way on earth a set of photos can ever convey how stunning this place is! Ive been to some pretty awsome 'time machine' type places over the years, Inverkips control room, Cane Hills Browning ward, Battersea B's control room. This place...www.28dayslater.co.uk
THE HISTORY
The theatre was constructed in the 1930s - no surprise given its style, and was officially opened on the 5th of September 1938. The cinema functioned through wartime and the decades that followed with little change, going strong until business began to falter by the 1970s. It was then purchased by the Mecca Leisure Group, who spent £20,000 on the cinema to try and bring in new customers. Restoration work occurred on the old organ in 1982, and for several years Sunday afternoon concerts were held. With film rental on the rise and modern multi-screen cinemas becoming more attractive than old theatres, Mecca finally left the building. A closing night was held on the 5th of September 1988, exactly 50 years after it opened, and the very same film 'The Hurricane' was shown. I'm going to sprinkle in some black and white shots from the 1930s for comparison. First of all though, how cool is this photograph below. Some serious Art Deco noir.
Preventing its demolition, the State became Grade II listed. from the outside, its imposing size and striking Art Deco design makes it easy to see why. From the inside, most of the original furnishings and plasterwork still remain, so its certainly a bit of a time capsule. In 1991, the theatre briefly reopened as a bar called Charlestons, of which there's a few remnants, but it only lasted 7 years. In 1998, Jamiroquai's Deeper Underground music video was filmed in the theatre, involving it actually being flooded completely with extras running for their safety and the man himself precariously dancing on the backrests of the theatre seats. There's a good video about this here. Not sure what they did with all that water after but it can't have done the structure much good!
In 2000, the listing status was upgraded to Grade II*, with a focus being placed on its highly preserved interior. The State Theatre has remained abandoned for a very long time now, gradually decaying as water gets in. At one point, it saw hopes of becoming a Wetherspoons, but for whatever reason there was a U-turn.
That's all folks
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