Report - The Grand Cinema - Southport - February 2018

[Speed]

Another one from a few years ago now. Visited with @dweeb and @Ojay we were pure on the tourbus by the time we made it here but probably made a bit more of it than most of its visitors i think!

This is a fairly unusual cinema having originally been built as a car showroom. The frontage is much shorter more squat than you would expect and the 'lobby' if you can call it that is just vast. The auditorium was added onto the back and although it is a little taller than the frontage is still very low utilising a 'stadium' style seating arrangement rather then the usual stalls and circle. The main attraction here is the exquisite set of stained glass windows featuring famous Disney characters which seemed to have gone unnoticed by most previous explorers. The rest wasn't too bad either tho! Another solid 7/10 cinema explore.

Located in the Sefton district of Southport at the corner of Lord Street and Court Street. Originally built in 1923 as a garage and car showroom, it was converted into a luxury cinema in 1938 by architect George E. Tonge. The Grand Cinema opened on 14th November 1938 with Arthur Tracy in "Follow Your Star". The cinema was designed for and operated by an independent operator throughout its cinematic life.

Seating was provided in a stadium plan with a sloping floor at the front (known as the Pit stalls and stepped floor at the rear which was known as the Royal stalls and Grand stalls. An unusual feature was the provision of a balconette which was attached to each sidewall. Seating was provised in pairs all along towards the proscenium. There were decorative grilles each side of the proscenium opening which contained the organ pipes of the Compton 3Manual organ which had an illuminated console on a lift, in the centre of the orchestra pit. The organ was opened by Herbert A. Dowson. In the ceiling was a large shallow dowm which had a central Art Deco style light fixture. There was a cafe provided for patrons.

In 1963 the Compton organ was removed to Cheetham Hill Methodist Church in Manchester, which in later years was moved to Chorley Town Hall. In 1966 another Compton organ was installed at the Grand Cinema which had previously been housed in the Regal Cinema, Douglas, Isle of Man and this was opened by Charles Smart.

The Grand Cinema closed on 2nd July 1966 with Sean Connery in "Thunderball" and Peter Cushing in "Hound of the Baskervilles". It was converted into an independent bingo club, and the Compton organ was played to bingo players at the interval during the first few years.

The Grand Cinema last operated as the Stanley Grand Casino, and from 2007 became the Mint Casino, but this was closed by May 2016 and the building is boarded up in early-2017. It is a Grade II listed building.

Southport was actually a pretty nice place too!​

 

[Lavino]

Same photos as @albino-jay got so probably didn’t make more of it than most.

 

[Speed]

I doubt Jason spent as much time under the floor as we did

 

[albino-jay]

I doubt Jason spent as much time under the floor as we did

Not a chance I did

 

[Calamity Jane]

Very different with those windows. That entrance is pretty special. Like this, and re purposing to bingo, then casino instead of being left to rot straight off the bat is different. Nice write up & photos. Thanks for another cracker

 

[scrappy]

Did you go above the main room? was first there in 2013 and nowt changed over the years other than they fixed a massive hole in the ceiling.

 

[Speed]

I seem to remember climbing up into some loft space at one point, its while ago now!

I think i remember seeing your photo on flickr ages ago and it took me a while to work out which theater it was, not one i really had on the radar at the time!

 

[scrappy]

the bit above the stage at the back wasn't bad, bit of an effort to get to. I was expecting loads to be left in there but it was just full of pigeons!

 

[TheTimeChamber]

That stained glass is wonderful

 

[Seffy]

Built as a car showroom? That's odd. It certainly does look a tad unusual, when compared to other cinemas of the same era (or just cinemas in general lol)