This nice Art Deco cinema caught our eye from the vibrant colours inside after reading @urbanchemist 's report. On our long day of more Liverpool based urbex, we decided to give it a crack as our opening explore of the day.
Gaumont Cinema
The Gaumont Cinema is situated on Park road Dingle in Liverpool it was built and opened in 1937 and housed Britain’s first Gaumont projectomatic system. This is a cinema system that automatically changed film reels and controlled the lights. The 1,500-seat Gaumont was designed by WE Trent, the chief architect for the Gaumont-British group, with a specific curved frontage to follow the shape of the corner of Park Road and Dingle Lane The art deco building was built to replace the Dingle Picturedrome. After the Gaumont theatre was decommissioned it was turned into a bingo hall. The cinema also boasted an impressive Wurlitzer organ which is currently in a Manchester museum. Cliff Richard and The Shadows played here in 1961 apparently. In the 1960s, the building, which is not listed, was turned into a bingo hall. Mobile phone operator 02 use the old projector room and have masts on the roof.
The lighting in here was nice for the filming, but as for the photos it was quite a challenge because the room becomes completely orange from the single bulb on overhead. I find that my quick-edit app on my phone brings the original colours of the main hall better than Lightroom + Photoshop for some reason, but for this report, the pictures are all Lightroom. We were quite confused about how the power is even on in the damaged structure, but the fact above that the roof is being used for a signal mast might be the reason, and not that it was left on.
External shot of the site - all that has changed really is the 'GAUMONT' lettering has been removed and the shutters are now down, sealing it from the outside.
The entrance hall
Upstairs from the entrance hall, we found a Greek restaurant with some records decorating the wall. Sadly, they are all smashed up.
Ground level floor of the main cinema hall
The stripped balcony
Finally, a shot from the roof to finish.
The building is up for around £75,000 but no takers so far.
Here's the link for my documentary styled video of this cinema - we cover the building's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:
Thanks for watching!
Gaumont Cinema
The Gaumont Cinema is situated on Park road Dingle in Liverpool it was built and opened in 1937 and housed Britain’s first Gaumont projectomatic system. This is a cinema system that automatically changed film reels and controlled the lights. The 1,500-seat Gaumont was designed by WE Trent, the chief architect for the Gaumont-British group, with a specific curved frontage to follow the shape of the corner of Park Road and Dingle Lane The art deco building was built to replace the Dingle Picturedrome. After the Gaumont theatre was decommissioned it was turned into a bingo hall. The cinema also boasted an impressive Wurlitzer organ which is currently in a Manchester museum. Cliff Richard and The Shadows played here in 1961 apparently. In the 1960s, the building, which is not listed, was turned into a bingo hall. Mobile phone operator 02 use the old projector room and have masts on the roof.
The lighting in here was nice for the filming, but as for the photos it was quite a challenge because the room becomes completely orange from the single bulb on overhead. I find that my quick-edit app on my phone brings the original colours of the main hall better than Lightroom + Photoshop for some reason, but for this report, the pictures are all Lightroom. We were quite confused about how the power is even on in the damaged structure, but the fact above that the roof is being used for a signal mast might be the reason, and not that it was left on.
External shot of the site - all that has changed really is the 'GAUMONT' lettering has been removed and the shutters are now down, sealing it from the outside.
The entrance hall
Upstairs from the entrance hall, we found a Greek restaurant with some records decorating the wall. Sadly, they are all smashed up.
Ground level floor of the main cinema hall
The stripped balcony
Finally, a shot from the roof to finish.
The building is up for around £75,000 but no takers so far.
Here's the link for my documentary styled video of this cinema - we cover the building's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:
Thanks for watching!
