Report - The Ritz Cinema - Ilkeston - March 2019

[Speed]

Not got too much to say about this one, i checked it back in July last year not long after it closed and it looked very promising (and was also tantalisingly close to being accessible) I imagined it would get sealed up a bit better sooner or later but it appears it hasn't. The amusement arcade in the adjoining shop seems to have closed now too and the whole building, although still mint inside seems to have been left for dead.

Annoyingly i had only checked it as i was passing and had failed to charge the torch batteries so at first i thought i was going to have to make a return trip for photos. Thankfully I eventually found the light switch for the main chandeliers but still a lot of the smaller rooms were in darkness. The auditorium is definitely the highlight tho, really original and well preserved. The rear of the stalls has a glass partition to form a bar area and the original circle bar has a pair of offices partition off in it kind of ruining the nice '30s deconess'. The lobby is nothing to shout about and under the circle there were a few rooms with a small crawl space with some old tat from the cinema days stored up.. nothing quite wroth dragging out for a photo tho really. The projection rooms are pretty empty had a few nice features left. I liked the ladder that provided a covert roof access/escape through the 'fin'

The Ritz Cinema was built for the independent exhibitors; Ritz (Ilkeston) Ltd. and was designed in a modern Art Deco style by the Nottingham based architect Reginald W.G. Cooper (his seventh cinema design project). It opened on 20th May 1938 with Barbara Stanwick in "Stella Dallas" and British film star Victor McLaglen was guest of honor (invited by his nephew J.V. McLaglen who was the first manager of the Ritz Cinema).

The cinema had a very distinctive style that was very similar to the Odeon theatres which were being built at that time. There was a slender fin-tower feature and the main facade was covered with a light biscuit coloured Doulton ‘carraware’ tiles. Seating in the auditorium was provided for 922 in the stalls and 480 in the circle. Unfortunately in later years the rather narrow proscenium did not adapt well for screening CinemaScope films and the top masking had to be lowered to give the wide screen effect.

The Ritz Cinema was operated by the S. Graham Circuit of Nottingham for most of its life and was closed on 8th June 1968 with a re-issue presentation of Vincent Price in "House of Wax". It was converted into an independently operated bingo club which closed on 19th July 2018.

The Ritz Cinema is a Grade II Listed building.

7/10 i think

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[Exploring with Andy]

That's pretty nice, and although obviously nowhere near original those "chandeliers" made from fluorescent tubes are certainly interesting, if nothing else!
There are some striking similarities between this and the Ritz in Nuneaton - not surprising I guess as they are a very similar vintage.

 

[mockney reject]

oh yes please!!

Those orange lamp shade need saving

 

[host]

Quality work indeed hope I manage to squeeze this one soon.

 

[dweeb]

Pretty fab! Those shades are cool!

Going to try my luck next week... I'm down the smoke all weekend now.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Very tasty, nice job.

 

[Speed]

Sadly being blasted all over everyone's favourite ego massaging platform now.. shame if it goes to shit but cant be helped i guess.

 

[albino-jay]

Sadly being blasted all over everyone's favourite ego massaging platform now.. shame if it goes to shit but cant be helped i guess.

Its only one person I can see whos posted it. Tameside is the same.

I think blasting it straight from np+ to public is a bit daft. Will get loads more traffic now. Seems a shame too as it looks decent. We moan about then goons but then move it to public as soon as one person let's it slip. No where is generating as many views as this place. Lets make it harder for them. You’re never going to stop it, but atleast slow it down.

Anyway. Nice looking place mate nice one, shame about the torch id of expected to have seen you in ever nook and cranny like Stu.

 

[Speed]

Sorry but it's on Instagram with 200+ likes from randoms. It's a shame but that's public in anyones book, I'm not hiding stuff while all and sundry can see it elsewhere. If NP was working it would have gone there in the first place but the last place I posted into there you and several others fucked over Facebook within a week anyway so I dont do that anymore. I appreciate you're maybe making an effort to rectify that maybe but it's going to take a while before I start trusting it again I'm afraid.

 

[albino-jay]

Sorry but it's on Instagram with 200+ likes from randoms. It's a shame but that's public in anyones book, I'm not hiding stuff while all and sundry can see it elsewhere. If NP was working it would have gone there in the first place but the last place I posted into there you and several others fucked over Facebook within a week anyway so I dont do that anymore. I appreciate you're maybe making an effort to rectify that maybe but it's going to take a while before I start trusting it again I'm afraid.

Meh whatever.

Fuck you then. You constantly have a moan at me blasting shit on fb. Which i dont do. I posted pics of branston on my own private facebook, which was already all over the place anyway. Not to anygroups nor was it a profile picture of an np site like yours was. Pot kettle and all that.

you’re not going to stop the odd thing getting out there like the guy who posted it isnt on here nor uses the site. Hes obviously just found it but surely spitting your dummy and putting it straight to public on here is just helping them anyway.

 

[Els]

Where do people go to see all this stuff on fb and instragram? I never see any of it unless it's here.

 

[Luke vaughan]

That's one of the best conditioned theatres seen in England in my experience anyway

 

[Lavino]

Sorry but it's on Instagram with 200+ likes from randoms. It's a shame but that's public in anyones book, I'm not hiding stuff while all and sundry can see it elsewhere. If NP was working it would have gone there in the first place but the last place I posted into there you and several others fucked over Facebook within a week anyway so I dont do that anymore. I appreciate you're maybe making an effort to rectify that maybe but it's going to take a while before I start trusting it again I'm afraid.

 

[Ojay]

Thing is, he's not! You might want to get YOUR facts straight before you come here trolling!

 

[Lavino]

Thing is, he's not! You might want to get YOUR facts straight before you come here trolling!

Hahaha love it