In my “Not West Bridgford” blogs numbers 1 and 8 reference
was made to the Tudor Cinema, which used to stand at the southern end of
Central Avenue. An unexpected visit earlier this week to West Kirby, on the
Wirral, gave me an opportunity to view its own former Tudor Cinema – the direct
successor to its namesake in West Bridgford - in that delightful seaside town.
This is how it looks now:
Designed by Alfred Thraves, also responsible for the Tudor
in West Bridgford, it was opened in 1933, seated an audience of 1100, and
closed its doors in 1965, before becoming a bingo hall, shops and now premises
for Dr. Barnardo’s. It is closely similar in design to its predecessor,
especially the large central A-shaped gable. Facing Riversdale Road, which
leads down to the seafront, the view of the old cinema from this road I found
weirdly reminiscent of how the Tudor in West Bridgford used to appear as seen
from the ends of adjacent roads – Davies, Priory, Albert – as shown below.
Old photographs show that the West Kirby cinema also had a sign, presumably in red neon, saying “Tudor”, as did the one in West Bridgford. Uncanny.
No comments:
Post a Comment