Report - The Grand Theatre / Wonderlounge, Banbury - March 2016

[screenone]

its in broad street , opposite fish and chip shop

 

[stranton]

very nice thread

 

[screenone]

The Grand in Banbury opened in 1911 as a live theatre and in 1929 began screening films. It was the first cinema in Oxfordhsire to show a film with sound, and started with “Showboat”. The theatre closed in 1935 for reconstruction and modernisation.

The Grand reopened in December 1935 , redesigned in an Egyptian/Deco style by Joseph G. Gomersall of Drury & Gomersall architects. It was taken over by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) in August 1943, but was never renamed. The theatre closed in 1968, and was later used for bingo for 30 years. In 2006 the Grand was converted into a Chicago Rock Cafe which later became Wonderlounge.

Despite the many uses, much of the internal decor remains intact including the original proscenium and stage, auditorium plasterwork and the circle – although the circle seats have been removed and is now filled with junk. Amazingly, the projector room still contains the remains of a projector setup – a Peerless lamphouse upon an original stand.

Visited with @SpiderMonkey

Original frontage and auditorium

The proscenium still remains despite the auditorium being converted to a nightclub

Egyptian and Art Deco fixtures still remain

The bar

Conversion to nightclub

View down the old auditorium - The circle level is now boxed in above

Circle level still retains the theatre's last décor

And moving into the saving grace of this place, the original projector room survives....

The original projector room

Remains of a projector

Original Peerless lamphouse

Cinema arc rectifier

Plate detail​

 

[screenone]

This dear old cinema opened this week as luxury flats. Zoopla has them should you wish to view, i wonder where you would park your car as their is nowhere, apart from that they look terrific.

 

[Exploring with Andy]

This dear old cinema opened this week as luxury flats. Zoopla has them should you wish to view, i wonder where you would park your car as their is nowhere, apart from that they look terrific.

Wow, not cheap are they! A bit plain and boring, as always, but at least they retained the exterior