I remember going there in the 1960s and 70s for the children's adventure films on Saturday mornings with the playscheme. I recall too being asked my age, in 1971, when I tried to get into the AA film, Love Story, when I wasn't yet fourteen.
Wallace sold the site of their dairy in 1932, and The Regal Cinema was built on the land and opened in 1939 and could seat 1055, and closed as a cinema in 1977. There was a car park out the back, I remember, and my dad had his car broken into and 2lb of sugar stolen from the from seat. The Hitchin Gazette must have been short of stories that week, as they printed an article about it.
In 1980 the building re-opened as a concert hall and recording studio. I went to see Judie Tzuke perform there. Remember her? She was best known for her song, Stay with me till Dawn which reached no. 16 in the UK charts in 1979.
There were applications made to have the building listed, but eventually it was demolished in 1985, which I still find sad to this day.
It was replaced by Regal Chambers, a doctors surgery, which opened in 1987.
Amanda Brittany
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I remember Judy Tzuke, I loved that song! It's a shame when lovely buildings are demolished. An old cinema near us was eventually restored some years ago, with an art-deco theme, and is really popular.
ReplyDeleteIt's a real shame,if they'd only kept the building I think The Regal would be really popular now too, as people love nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Regal Cinema in Bancroft, Hitchin; an art deco building. I agree that it is a shame that the building was not preserved as it was a splendid example of 1930's architecture. Others have described it as a flea pit; a point with which I find it hard to disagree. It looked like it had no refurbishment work done to it from the day that it opened to the day that it closed; a period of some thirty eight-years. I remember paying 40 pence for a front circle seat in the mid seventies whereas a seat at the ABC in Stevenage was 55 pence when that cinema opened in 1973 and became considerably dearer by the time the Regal closed at Christmas in 1977.
ReplyDeleteThere was a very unpleasant woman who worked as an usherette in the circle. In the mid seventies, she transferred to the box office and was equally unpleasant and hostile when selling tickets. I remember that she once aggressively attacked me saying, "You come here every weekend, ' so what I thought. My younger brother, who seldom went to the cinema, once enquired where the toilets were and she shouted at him telling that he knew where they were. Forty years later, I remember these incidents more than anything else; funny what stays emblazoned on the mind. I also remember in the last few years that the cinema existed that it showed sex films and little else. I remember the local vicar at St Mary's complaining about a film called the 'Language of Love' which claimed to be a sex education film but was nothing more than an excuse for showing erotic pornography. I imagine that the cinema did well simply because the vicar complained and his protest was reported in the local rag.
I remember The Regal being turned in to a recording studio but never went there. How I would have loved to see Judy Tzuke sing 'Stay with me till dawn.'
Saw Clint Eastwood and General Saint in March '82 with Cool guitar man Neil. Amazing gig!! Jack Spratt in a hat, his wife get no lean!! Great memories:)
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