January 2024
The Visit
Visited with @stranton and @coolboyslim, we didn't really know what to expect with this one having only seen a few reports from several years ago. I managed too find some chatter online that the building had been stripped for conversion into a restaurant, as we were in the area we thought it'd be rude not to have a quick look at what (if anything) was left of this once beautiful cinema.
The History
The Regal Cinema was built on the site of Goosey & Sons' drapery store in Kettering High Street and officially opened on 26th December 1936 by Earl Spencer (Princess Di’s father). It was built for and operated by the independent Regal (Kettering) Ltd. headed by Cohen & Rafer. The vast £70,000 super-cinema was designed by noted cinema architect George Coles, and had a unique frontage, dominated by a tower lit by a neon halo visible for miles around. Five pairs of entrance doors led into a large foyer with a pay desk on each side. There was a cafe for the convenience of patrons. The elegant air-conditioned ultra-modern auditorium had 1,748 seats, with 1,164 luxury seats – grey in the stalls and 578 blue seats in the circle. The proscenium is 42ft wide, the stage 50ft wide and 18ft deep with footlights and an orchestra pit. There are 4 dressing rooms. An elaborate frilly curtain with 59 different patterns filled the proscenium. The stage was used for popular Sunday night band shows with top names like Joe Loss, Jack Hylton, Henry Hall and Nat Gonella. Other stars included singers Anne Zeigler and Webster Booth, pianists Rawicz and Landau, the legendary Crazy Gang, Flanagan and Allan, and forces sweetheart Vera Lynn. One of the early films shown at the Regal Cinema was “Queen of Hearts” starring Gracie Fields, and the classic “Gone with the Wind”, which played for two weeks – unheard of in the provinces.
In June 2019 the police entered from the rear of what was thought to be a vacant building to find a huge cannabis factory operating in the building. Plants were said to be worth £ half a million The building was most recently occupied by Gala Bingo who closed the the branch in 2018. Since then plans have been submitted to transform the property into a banquet hall, however work seems to have stalled recently with its future in doubt.
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[2] - Entrance Foyer
[3] - Entrance Foyer
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[9] - First Floor Ladies Toilets
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[12] - Projection Room
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Cheers for looking 
Fuji XT-2, 10-24mm
Fuji XT-2, 10-24mm
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