Report - The Palladium Cinema - Birmingham - March 2011

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I know Dweeb has had his eye on this one for years and even i had been down there 3 times previously so its been a long time coming for both of us! It made a change to do a really old cinema in Birmingham, we are used to gala bingos and multiplexes out west!

While on the face of it the place has been a bit messed with, its still a very interesting building. It was converted to bingo in the 60s, yet not really altered at all. The only major thing i could spot was the blocking up of the projection windows and a strange modification around the stage area that had covered the original plasterwork yet was fairly hard to spot! It had some really nice features, the seats in the circle are amazing, as is the remains of the original chandelier up there. By far the most obvious feature of the place however was the date it closed.. 1979!! Thats a fucking long time ago by derelict cinema standards and in real terms it means that nearly everything in there was of a great vintage. Old bottles all round!

Originally opened on 15th November 1911 as the Hockley Picture House, it had 506 seats. It was re-built and enlarged to the plans of architect L.L. Dussault, re-opening as the New Palladium Cinema on 8th November 1922. The opening film was Isobel Elsom in "The Game of Life". The 3-storey building had a tiled mansard roof on top of its facade. Inside the auditorium, there was an elegant decorative scheme and seating was locating in stalls and circle levels. The projection box was located beneath the circle, above the rear stalls seating area.

From 22nd October 1936, it was taken over by the Associated British Cinemas(ABC) chain, and was re-named Palladium Cinema. It continued to operate successfully as an inner city neighbourhood cinema for many years.

The Palladium Cinema was closed on 13th February 1965 with Gerald Hatray in "The Spy" and Francoise Arnoul in "Daggers Drawn"(A Couteaux Tires). It became a bingo club, which operated until closing in the late-1970's. The building then lay empty and unused for many years, and still stands in a deteriorating condition in 2011.

Hopefully we can get back for another look in the next few weeks, there's much i didn't get a chance to shoot. Oh and remember

The onus of being heard lies upon the player, please make your call LOUD AND CLEAR!​