Report - Tudor Cinema, West Kirby - July 2011

[sim2lew]

Visited with a non-member.

HISTORY
The Tudor cinema was built in 1933 after the previous one burnt down. It originally had 1100 seats. It was both a cinema and theatre, and was going strong until the 60s when visitor levels dropped. It was closed in 1965 and then went through being a bingo hall, shopping centre, casino and offices for small businesses. It ultimately closed in late 2009 after being used as a council office. Part or all of the building is either grade II or grade II* listed, and was due for demolition a year and a half ago.

PICTURES

[1] To start with a people shot...

[2] Main hall area.

[3] Side room near main entrance.

[4] Main entrance to hall.

[5] First floor hallway looking to toilets.

[6] Bay window.

[7] Hallway to other balcony.

[8] Distribution board.

[9] Original (?) ceiling and remnants of suspension wires.

[10] View of main hall from edge of upper second balcony.

[11] In ur corridoorZ

[12] Sun through the windows into hall.

[13] Whole building.

At this point I was stopped by an old lady asking me about when the Aldi works were to start. Seems I official, despite being 15 and only 5'8"

[14] Outside victory shot.

​

 

[Degenatron]

Well done for getting in there. I live in the area and have wondered for years what was left of the original features in there. Not much sadly. I do remember it when it was Bridge Walk shopping arcade in the 80s.

I heard that the council made a lot of demands to Aldi regarding what they wanted them to do to the road layout outside the store. Aldi have disagreed and the legal wrangling has held up the development ever since.

Anyway I have some pictures here of the place in its heyday if you are interested. Taken from the silver screens of Wirral book.

The auditorium

The original foyer

The front in 1933 which looks almost the same as it does today