screens 13 and 14 seat 48 each, they are like tiny screening rooms, the other four are the luxury seating areas of the four biggest screens accessible from the top floor VIP lounge area, these seats have different ticketing and i think are 18+ only
The UCI was the first multiplex in Edinburgh, it was built in a corner of the Fort Kinnaird retail park, it had a standard UCI layout, an unremarkable brick box with a trademark UCI pitched glass roof over the front doors, a large square lobby with six screens off each side, eight at the back of the building and four at the front.
The screens had a very shallow rake.
The premiere for TRAINSPOTTING was held at the UCI.
It was an incredibly busy cinema, BRAVE HEART ran here for over a year.
Gradually competition from newer multiplex sites took business away from the UCI, first the ABC in Westerhailes, then the UGC Fountainbridge, then the Ster Century at Leith and then the Warner at Greenside Place.
The owners of the Fort Kinnaird wanted to expand the number of shops and size of the park, so the (by now) Odeon closed and was swiftly demolished in the summer of 2008.
The UCI was an odd building as its frontage was at the rear of the building and faced on to the huge car park, away from the road.
Built as a CIC cinema, it was a very solid building with luxurious auditoriums.
It had a central lobby corridor that ran to the back of the building, with four auditoriums off each side.
The front of the building was double height with offices upstairs that were used for the managers, the regional manager and also for training. There were restaurant and bar units on either side of the front doors.
The projection suite was one long booth.
The cinema was very popular and very upmarket. However its market share was gradually eroded by new cinemas in the centre of Birmingham, then by the Virgin at Rubery, and the final nail in the coffin was the opening of the nearby Cineworld in Solihull in a new shopping centre.
Built on a prime piece of land, the UCI after closing was quickly demolished and a BMW dealership was built on the site. View link
The cinema was demolished after closing and a new building on the site was constructed for Newcastle University.
A staggering 95% of the cinema was recycled, with only 5% of the rubble going to landfill. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hairyhippy/62816945/
woody
commented about
UCI Hullon
Nov 3, 2008 at 2:32 am
heres a photo taken around 1992 http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2120702873/
Hull was built as a CIC theatre before the merger of CIC and AMC to form UCI.
It was therefore a much better quality building than the AMC designs, the auditoriums had the seating in one block with side aisles, stages and curtains (like High Wycombe and Solihull UCI’s – both also CIC designed theatres), there was a mezzanine level in the lobby with offices upstairs.
The projection suite was all one room which made prgramming this theatre very flexible, you could interlock 35mm prints between any ajoining auditoriums, on really big blockbusters you could run one 35mm print across a max of three projectors.
Hull was a hugely competative and over screeened market and when the UGC opened , both the UCI and Odeon lost a lot of market share.
The UCI was built on the banks of the Humber and the car park was prone to flooding.
The owners of the retail park it was built in wanted to expand the shops (for a DIY B&Q superstore) so a deal was done to close and demolish the UCI and neighbouring Megabowl.
The seating capacities listed are wrong, the cinema was built as a square footprint, there were six auditoriums across the back and two at the front. The capacities were (i think) 152, 134, 236, 292, 292, 236, 134, 152.
woody
commented about
Cinebowlon
Oct 23, 2008 at 2:48 pm
terrific ariel view taken from the top of Centrepoint http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianvisits/2915467026/
shows how big a site its going to be, apparently the astoria will be flattened and the space used to store equipment while the new station is built, and then the astoria site will be a new building of shops and offices… what a waste
this development also swallows up the legendary basement nightclub Ghetto situated down the side alley behind the astoria http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/1679425810/
under construction in 1998
View link
View link
september 2003 with part of the frontage revealing where the IONIC sign once was
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/223126793/
same view a couple of years later with Sainsburys now occupying the ground floor area where the cinema lobby once was
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/245822549/
screens 13 and 14 seat 48 each, they are like tiny screening rooms, the other four are the luxury seating areas of the four biggest screens accessible from the top floor VIP lounge area, these seats have different ticketing and i think are 18+ only
there are only 14 screens, the four additional screen mentioned are the luxury seating balcony areas in the four biggest screens
nov 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3023393496/
reopened as a theatre nov 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3023393522/
The Empire Cinema Ashbourne, Derbyshire in 1912 Whit Monday – opening day
View link
As it is today
View link
press advert from 1948 for the Empire and the Elite which were both run by the same local proprietor Frank S. Bromwich
View link
philistines! there could have been some rare footage
View link
UCI towards the end of its life
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikwatt/2902004245/
site of the uci
The UCI was the first multiplex in Edinburgh, it was built in a corner of the Fort Kinnaird retail park, it had a standard UCI layout, an unremarkable brick box with a trademark UCI pitched glass roof over the front doors, a large square lobby with six screens off each side, eight at the back of the building and four at the front.
The screens had a very shallow rake.
The premiere for TRAINSPOTTING was held at the UCI.
It was an incredibly busy cinema, BRAVE HEART ran here for over a year.
Gradually competition from newer multiplex sites took business away from the UCI, first the ABC in Westerhailes, then the UGC Fountainbridge, then the Ster Century at Leith and then the Warner at Greenside Place.
The owners of the Fort Kinnaird wanted to expand the number of shops and size of the park, so the (by now) Odeon closed and was swiftly demolished in the summer of 2008.
PS – it was never on Odeon, it kept its UCI brand until it closed
The UCI was an odd building as its frontage was at the rear of the building and faced on to the huge car park, away from the road.
Built as a CIC cinema, it was a very solid building with luxurious auditoriums.
It had a central lobby corridor that ran to the back of the building, with four auditoriums off each side.
The front of the building was double height with offices upstairs that were used for the managers, the regional manager and also for training. There were restaurant and bar units on either side of the front doors.
The projection suite was one long booth.
The cinema was very popular and very upmarket. However its market share was gradually eroded by new cinemas in the centre of Birmingham, then by the Virgin at Rubery, and the final nail in the coffin was the opening of the nearby Cineworld in Solihull in a new shopping centre.
Built on a prime piece of land, the UCI after closing was quickly demolished and a BMW dealership was built on the site.
View link
The cinema was demolished after closing and a new building on the site was constructed for Newcastle University.
A staggering 95% of the cinema was recycled, with only 5% of the rubble going to landfill.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hairyhippy/62816945/
heres a photo taken around 1992
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2120702873/
Hull was built as a CIC theatre before the merger of CIC and AMC to form UCI.
It was therefore a much better quality building than the AMC designs, the auditoriums had the seating in one block with side aisles, stages and curtains (like High Wycombe and Solihull UCI’s – both also CIC designed theatres), there was a mezzanine level in the lobby with offices upstairs.
The projection suite was all one room which made prgramming this theatre very flexible, you could interlock 35mm prints between any ajoining auditoriums, on really big blockbusters you could run one 35mm print across a max of three projectors.
Hull was a hugely competative and over screeened market and when the UGC opened , both the UCI and Odeon lost a lot of market share.
The UCI was built on the banks of the Humber and the car park was prone to flooding.
The owners of the retail park it was built in wanted to expand the shops (for a DIY B&Q superstore) so a deal was done to close and demolish the UCI and neighbouring Megabowl.
The seating capacities listed are wrong, the cinema was built as a square footprint, there were six auditoriums across the back and two at the front. The capacities were (i think) 152, 134, 236, 292, 292, 236, 134, 152.
photo taken summer 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2311151864/
View link
shocking extent of the redevelopment and additional demolition of a block on oxford street that i think is the big granite deco office block
terrific ariel view taken from the top of Centrepoint
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianvisits/2915467026/
shows how big a site its going to be, apparently the astoria will be flattened and the space used to store equipment while the new station is built, and then the astoria site will be a new building of shops and offices… what a waste
this development also swallows up the legendary basement nightclub Ghetto situated down the side alley behind the astoria
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/1679425810/
13 buildings!!!
that means the entire corner block, this is going to be a huge hole in the ground
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2957377979/
some photos taken in 2006
exterior
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/251603005/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/245846863/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/245855605/
lobby (crowd is in for a cast and crew screening of Venus)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/245846858/
prince charles and the zombie strippers – sept 08
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2870309878/
sept 2008 photo of the exterior early evening
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2853859282/
newly refurbished frontage sept 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2853854690/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2853850326/
photos taken saturday sept 6 2008
exterior
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2851118169/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2851947622/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2851932124/
side and rear
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2851937422/
rotting canopy and front doors
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2851928352/
View link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/2851111491/
a very fuzzy photo taken with my camera phone of the main screen
View link