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Report - - Tatton Cinema, Gatley, May 2009 | Theatres and Cinemas | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Tatton Cinema, Gatley, May 2009

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Alley

Conspicuous Loiterer
Regular User
Tatton Cinema - Gatley

I had a quick look in here with Solomon a while back and it seemed so trashed as to not be worth photographing. But, with it being Year of the Cinema and all, I decided to get some shots for posterity. I am saddened by the loss of so many small local cinemas and particularly this one which I went to many years ago.

The Tatton Cinema was opened on Thursday, October 14, 1937 and was run by Ernest Nash Eaton, who had started in the cinema business in 1910 and had been involved in the building of many cinemas in the Manchester area. The first film shown on the big screen was Jungle Princess with Dorothy Lamour and the original cinema included a restaurant and six dressing rooms.
The company took over the Savoy in Heaton Moor in 1948 and the Palace in Bredbury in 1953. Nash Eaton died in May 1957 and Vera Edge, who had worked at the Tatton since it opened, took over as proprietor. The company was later run by her son Jack. In February 1971 the minor cinema opened in the area previously occupied by the restaurant. Built at a cost of £16,000, it was the first cinema in the country to have fully operational rear projection. The cinema was later bought by Apollo Leisure and managed by Rory Rushman, until it closed its doors for the last time on January 18 2001.

Gatley is a small village to the south of Manchester. Although restaurant trade has thrived the local cinema fell victim to a nearby multiplex. As one local said "The Tatton is one of the few places where parents feel safe sending their children. No-one wants to send a child to a multiplex up the road in Manchester because it simply isn't safe. That's one of the reasons why the Tatton is so special."

Sadly it was never to re-open and the main auditorium and projector rooms have been demolished. The developers are now retaining the original facade of the old cinema and after community outcry have taken on board many of the public's concerns.
Currently new plans have still to be submitted.

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