According to Harry Wilding, writing in https://www.leftlion.co.uk/read/2014/january/savoy-cinema-6349/
“Its single auditorium was rebuilt in 1972, when the original Vitrolite cladding was removed, and it upgraded to three screens. It has since had a fourth added.”
I have a photograph of what is now Yatess, on which is blazoned “Talbot” and “Kings Theatre”. Until 1913 the entrance was from the rear of the Talbot. From 1913 the entrance was from the other end, on Market Street, which resulted in the auditorium entrance being at the screen end.
Announced 10 Jun 2019: Grantham Savoy will open its doors, off St Catherine’s Road, on Friday, July 19. An invitation-only launch event will be held the day before.
Announced 5 Jul 2019: Walt Disney’s The Lion King will top the bill for the opening line-up at its new town centre multiplex.
Tickets will be on sale from Monday (July 8) for the grand opening on July 19. Other titles will include Pixar’s Toy Story 4 along with Marvel’s ‘Spiderman – Far From Home’ and supernatural horror ‘Annabelle Comes Home.’
Adult tickets will cost £7.60 or £8.60 for 3D viewings. A child/concession/student ticket will cost £6.10 and £7.10 for 3D. A family ticket (two children, two adults) will be £24.40 or 3D £28.40.
Additional stuff from Long Eaton & Sawley Archive:
On Thursday August 1st 1920, the Empire cinema opened, showing God’s Good Man and Roaring River. Seats were priced at boxes 2- each seat, circle 1-, fauteilles (whatever they were) 9d, stalls 6d and pit stalls 4d. There was room in the pit and circle for over 1,000 people. It included the Empire Cafe and a large room for private parties or Billiards. For some reason though, the Empire was not successful and closed on Saturday April 5th 1924. Five months later, under new management, the Empire re-opened.
Live acts would occasionally be engaged as an alternative to films. Talkies arrived on May 12th 1930 with King Of The Khyber Rifles. 1954-5 brought the Panoramic screens. The first Cinemascope film shown in Long Eaton was The Kentuckian with Burt Lancaster. Although successful for many years, the Empire was too large to be viable and closed on October 15th 1960 with Charlie Drake and Sands Of The Desert. Although several youths were searched for fireworks before being allowed in, many were sent out after several explosions during the evening, so the second half of the film played to an almost empty cinema. Vandalism caused the closure of many cinemas during the 1950s and 1960s.
The Empire was demolished to build a new Tesco supermarket. This was eventually replaced by Preedy and currently a W.H. Smith’s store occupies the site.
From Long Eaton & Sawley Archive:
The New Palace opened on July 3rd 1913 and soon became known as the little theatre with the big reputation. With around 830 seats it wasn’t the largest theatre, but its Market Place position made it a prominent venue at the time and in 1919 seat prices rose front seats 4d, other seats were 6d and 7d. The circle was 1- and if booked beforehand, 13d.
In 1922 the Palace had a Grand Orchestral Pipe Organ installed, and continued bookings of silent films even after Talkies arrived in Britain around 1929. The last silent to be shown was on April 11th 1931. The Palace was then fitted out with the Western Electric Sound System and was refurbished, re-opening on Monday 4th May. In 1936 the Palace underwent complete modernisation, being extended by 30 feet at the rear, and re-opening on Monday 19th October 1936. With the arrival of television in the 1950s, cinema gradually became less popular. A Panoramic screen was fitted in the late 1950s, bringing fresh interest to cinemagoers.
Star Cinemas, based in Leeds, took over the Palace in 1965 and once again the building was completely modernised and re-opened on March 22nd as the Ritz. Star Cinemas continued to run the Ritz until 1977 when Mr. Andrew Boulton took over. By now, it was the only remaining cinema in Long Eaton. It was closed again in 1983, and the building was converted into a smaller cinema with 270 seats and a slightly smaller screen. A new Dolby sound system was installed and the cinema was renamed as The Screen. After a short delay, it opened on Thursday September 15th 1983. The Screen ran until the mid 1990s, but the arrival of the new multiscreen cinemas in Nottingham and Derby finally sounded the death knell of cinema in Long Eaton.
On the 1913 OS map, both theatres are shown smaller. The Empire does not extend to Booth Street. The Hippodrome is a rectangle on High Street without the large rear auditorium.
Built around 1909 on the site of the ‘Electra’ theatre. Mr Norman Gray was one of the first resident managers and had a flair for organising concerts for first World War Forces. The Electra was built in 1909, and replaced in 1911 with the bigger Empire Palace seating between 600 and 700 people. It was demolished in 1959 to make way for a new Co-Op store and administrative offices.
On the 1913 OS map, both theatres are shown smaller. The Empire does not extend to Booth Street. The Hippodrome is a rectangle on High Street without the large rear auditorium.
On the 1938 OS Map, the original Empire Theatre is shown as ‘Billiards Hall’. In 2017 the building appears to be in use by Titan Trade Windows.
The second Empire Theatre had a number of uses, including roller skating and a dance hall. The building has been re-roofed and given a new frontage and now has a retail use.
dave
commented about
ABC Hanleyon
May 5, 2019 at 5:54 am
A proper cinema! Going to the pictures now is like being in someone’s front room!
dave
commented about
Rex Cinemaon
May 2, 2019 at 2:07 pm
The 1944 Kinema Yearbook gives the seating capacity as 781.
According to Harry Wilding, writing in https://www.leftlion.co.uk/read/2014/january/savoy-cinema-6349/ “Its single auditorium was rebuilt in 1972, when the original Vitrolite cladding was removed, and it upgraded to three screens. It has since had a fourth added.”
Photo dated 1933
I have a photograph of what is now Yatess, on which is blazoned “Talbot” and “Kings Theatre”. Until 1913 the entrance was from the rear of the Talbot. From 1913 the entrance was from the other end, on Market Street, which resulted in the auditorium entrance being at the screen end.
Announced 10 Jun 2019: Grantham Savoy will open its doors, off St Catherine’s Road, on Friday, July 19. An invitation-only launch event will be held the day before. Announced 5 Jul 2019: Walt Disney’s The Lion King will top the bill for the opening line-up at its new town centre multiplex. Tickets will be on sale from Monday (July 8) for the grand opening on July 19. Other titles will include Pixar’s Toy Story 4 along with Marvel’s ‘Spiderman – Far From Home’ and supernatural horror ‘Annabelle Comes Home.’ Adult tickets will cost £7.60 or £8.60 for 3D viewings. A child/concession/student ticket will cost £6.10 and £7.10 for 3D. A family ticket (two children, two adults) will be £24.40 or 3D £28.40.
Actually November 1962, must have been the second run of Carry On Constable (1960) + Roadracers (USA 1959).
15 June 1935, just before it was taken into the Odeon chain on 17 July 1936. The advertised event is ‘Leonardo’s Radio Milano Band’.
1937 from the advertised films
1953 or 1954 (‘Angel Face’ staring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons was released in 1953)
As a former stage technician I like to see the technical gubbins, but as a theatre-goer; how the magic happens should not be so obvious.
Announced 5 Mar 2019: the new building was handed over to Savoy Cinemas for the fitting-out work to begin. 5 screens, 650 seats are planned.
Additional stuff from Long Eaton & Sawley Archive: On Thursday August 1st 1920, the Empire cinema opened, showing God’s Good Man and Roaring River. Seats were priced at boxes 2- each seat, circle 1-, fauteilles (whatever they were) 9d, stalls 6d and pit stalls 4d. There was room in the pit and circle for over 1,000 people. It included the Empire Cafe and a large room for private parties or Billiards. For some reason though, the Empire was not successful and closed on Saturday April 5th 1924. Five months later, under new management, the Empire re-opened.
Live acts would occasionally be engaged as an alternative to films. Talkies arrived on May 12th 1930 with King Of The Khyber Rifles. 1954-5 brought the Panoramic screens. The first Cinemascope film shown in Long Eaton was The Kentuckian with Burt Lancaster. Although successful for many years, the Empire was too large to be viable and closed on October 15th 1960 with Charlie Drake and Sands Of The Desert. Although several youths were searched for fireworks before being allowed in, many were sent out after several explosions during the evening, so the second half of the film played to an almost empty cinema. Vandalism caused the closure of many cinemas during the 1950s and 1960s.
The Empire was demolished to build a new Tesco supermarket. This was eventually replaced by Preedy and currently a W.H. Smith’s store occupies the site.
The Scala was the first cinema in Long Eaton to install a sound system and began showing Talkies from Monday October 24th 1929.
From Long Eaton & Sawley Archive: The New Palace opened on July 3rd 1913 and soon became known as the little theatre with the big reputation. With around 830 seats it wasn’t the largest theatre, but its Market Place position made it a prominent venue at the time and in 1919 seat prices rose front seats 4d, other seats were 6d and 7d. The circle was 1- and if booked beforehand, 13d.
In 1922 the Palace had a Grand Orchestral Pipe Organ installed, and continued bookings of silent films even after Talkies arrived in Britain around 1929. The last silent to be shown was on April 11th 1931. The Palace was then fitted out with the Western Electric Sound System and was refurbished, re-opening on Monday 4th May. In 1936 the Palace underwent complete modernisation, being extended by 30 feet at the rear, and re-opening on Monday 19th October 1936. With the arrival of television in the 1950s, cinema gradually became less popular. A Panoramic screen was fitted in the late 1950s, bringing fresh interest to cinemagoers.
Star Cinemas, based in Leeds, took over the Palace in 1965 and once again the building was completely modernised and re-opened on March 22nd as the Ritz. Star Cinemas continued to run the Ritz until 1977 when Mr. Andrew Boulton took over. By now, it was the only remaining cinema in Long Eaton. It was closed again in 1983, and the building was converted into a smaller cinema with 270 seats and a slightly smaller screen. A new Dolby sound system was installed and the cinema was renamed as The Screen. After a short delay, it opened on Thursday September 15th 1983. The Screen ran until the mid 1990s, but the arrival of the new multiscreen cinemas in Nottingham and Derby finally sounded the death knell of cinema in Long Eaton.
2019: 12 Screens, Adjustable recliner seating, Real D 3D, Sony 4K projection.
The site is now a carpark at the side of The Great Northern pub.
Demolished between 2011 and 2016 (Google Streetmap).
On the 1913 OS map, both theatres are shown smaller. The Empire does not extend to Booth Street. The Hippodrome is a rectangle on High Street without the large rear auditorium.
Built around 1909 on the site of the ‘Electra’ theatre. Mr Norman Gray was one of the first resident managers and had a flair for organising concerts for first World War Forces. The Electra was built in 1909, and replaced in 1911 with the bigger Empire Palace seating between 600 and 700 people. It was demolished in 1959 to make way for a new Co-Op store and administrative offices.
On the 1913 OS map, both theatres are shown smaller. The Empire does not extend to Booth Street. The Hippodrome is a rectangle on High Street without the large rear auditorium.
In the background can be seen part of the Great Central Railway viaduct. On the right is part of the Forest Works.
On the 1938 OS Map, the original Empire Theatre is shown as ‘Billiards Hall’. In 2017 the building appears to be in use by Titan Trade Windows. The second Empire Theatre had a number of uses, including roller skating and a dance hall. The building has been re-roofed and given a new frontage and now has a retail use.
A proper cinema! Going to the pictures now is like being in someone’s front room!
ca.1967