The Royalty Cinema

#12 – Explore #2 of the UK Road Trip – Wasted at The Royalty Cinema

Before I begin this report (again), this has been the hardest for me to date, First of all I hated my first edited photos and completely started again, and secondly I had just finished writing this report and my laptop switched off and I lost the lot. So my new (and still not great) pics are ready, and I’ve plugged in my laptop. So on with the show….May I introduce you to The Royalty…

A little piece of history.

The Royalty Cinema was opened on 20th October 1930 and still most of its beautiful architecture remains to this day.

The Royalty Cinema was taken over by the Associated British Cinemas(ABC) chain in March 1935. ABC closed the cinema on 2nd November 1963. It was converted into a Mecca Bingo Club, and in 2010 it started operating as a Gala Bingo Club.

In the summer of 2011, the Royalty Cinema was designated a Grade II Listed building by English Heritage, and closed later that year.

In 2012 local police raided the place as they suspected it was being used as a cannabis factory, The ducting still remains in the attic.

I visited The Royalty with Urbanographer, Carrot in Motion, and Adam X. This was the second explore of our UK Road trip, and I for one was really looking forward to it, as I really wanted to do an old cinema.

A few hours earlier we had succeeded climbing to the top of Tower X, so we were all knackered but in really good spirits.

As I made my way through the smelly, wet, dirty floors I entered the main auditorium. This place was obviously once a really bright place to be.

Most of the chairs were still in place on the upper floor, on the lower floor however they had been removed.

A few pics from the lower floor.

The bar area to the back of the auditorium.

Also standing in the main room was this old dusty organ.

Whilst the others were setting up their shots in the main room I decided to have a little wander around the corridors and back rooms. The walls were very colourful, and they had a lot of peeling paint, which I love.

Behind the scenes kitchen area

A few more shots around the cinema.

The main entrance area, and some “Show Time” flyers

I came across these levers in one room, I wonder what they once did?

As I was wondering around I found a very narrow walkway and set of stairs which took me to the roof. I wasn’t going to tell the others but thought I should so that we could all get some shots from the top of the building.

A nice shot of an old tap, and a very nice in one piece stained glass window.

As usual I took my external shots at the end of the explore. I hope you enjoyed reading this, please feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for looking..

WA