Ritz Cinema
324 High Street,
Chatham,
ME4 4NR
324 High Street,
Chatham,
ME4 4NR
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Chatham and Rochester were very lucky to have three of the best cinemas anywhere. I will write about Chatham’s ABC Regent and Rochester’s Odeon separately. The Ritz must have been Robert Cromie’s greatest achievement. I gasped when I first saw the scope screen from the circle during a continuous performance. Better was yet to come. As the film finished, the curtains closed as the red and amber footlights faded up then the houselights came up, chandeliers and front and backlit golden grilles featuring Union’s lyre design which was extended to surround the proscenium to very pleasant effect. A recording of Billy Vaughn and his orchestra playing O Sole Mio completed a perfect picture. As the tune was coming to an end, the houselights faded, the footlights dimmed and the curtains billowed open for the B movie. I will write more about the Ritz.
Architect Leslie Kemp was Supervising Architect on behalf of Robert Cromie. It was Kemp that designed the Wurlitzer Console. The whole of the interior was designed and supplied by the Walturdaw Cinema Supplies
Ron Knee
The WurliTzer is under restoration and will soon be singing again in march of this year
The future of the (long removed) Wurlitzer is now in some doubt. The Buttermarket in Shewsbury last converted into a nightclub (with organ still in situ) but the nightclub has now closed with heavy debt.
A vintage 1962 photograph of the Ritz Cinema:
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