Pictorial History:
The Regent was designed by William Edward Trent, who was the in-house architect of Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT). During the 1928 construction of the building, this company was taken over by Gaumont British Picture Corporation (PCT logos are present in the building, so I assume it therefore must have actually opened with incorrect branding) In 1949, the building was renamed the Gaumont. The building is also possibly the last cinema to be built in a classical style, once 1930 hit, art deco was almost instant. There is now only one remaining PCT cinema that is still showing films.
1929 photos
Gaumont cinemas were taken over in 1941 by The Rank Organization, which also owned Odeon. The Bournemouth Gaumont always performed well in times where others struggled, and was the best performing cinema locally. In the 1960s, larger Gaumonts that could accommodate such events played host to live pop acts. The Bournemouth Gaumont was one such venue and had performances from Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, and a one week residency from The Beatles from 19-24 August 1963, and a one-night return on 30 October 1964. However, The Gaumont was not immune from the decline of cinema attendance in the 1960s, and eventually it was being considered for dreaded multi-screen conversion. The cost involved of this work was enormous, and as Odeons were more popular that Gaumonts, it shows a lot about the profitability even in tougher times that this building was listed for conversion and not the nearby Lansdowne Odeon.
Once the 1968-9 works had finished smashing the building to buggery, removing the huge domed ceiling and filling it with asbestos, the new Cinerama screen was also unveiled. This was a new technology at the time, Essentially a massive concave screen. The original screen was removed in the mid 2000s, but the Cinerama auditorium remained until the building closed, and was the last one in the country.
1968 ruining
The Gaumont brand was declining after it stopped being included on first circuit release in 1959. The closure of another nearby Odeon in 1976 meant that Rank could have changed the Gaumont name to Odeon at that time, but kept it going until 1986 (only two other Rank cinemas kept the Gaumont name past this time), showing that it clearly still had a significant pull on the area..
In 2017 the Odeon upped sticks, and moved to a hideous building on the opposite side of the gardens. A delightful property developer purchased the building and proposed to smash all the building down apart from the facade, and stick a 10 story block of glass clad flats out the top, like some kind of cordyceps (put 'cordyceps attenborough' in youtube if you don't know what that is. Fascinating yet fucked up and a perfect analogy). Surprisingly, the council refused the planning, and every other application since. Odeon sold the building with a restricitve covenant that it is not to ever be used as a cinema again. But will they change that for a indie cinema? Will it be smashed to the ground for 100000 student flats? Who knows!
As far as the explore goes, this one was bittersweet. I initially hid in the cinema on the final showing of the final film. I found a spot behind some chairs, we hid for about an hour before cleaners found us. They were as confused as I was as to why they were cleaning a building that was shutting down, but had no problems letting us run around. So we did - until a member of staff caught us upstairs and threw us out. Fast forward a year and a bit and I get word that the building is open. I waste no time and check it out straight away. Annoyingly, I didn't realise it was stripped out and only has half the power working, which has made most of my pictures.... shit. Anyway, here's the report!
What was the cinerama screen
Porn
I think most people have something that's their kind of urbex porn. Mine is plasterwork. Despite the 60s, quite a lot of plaster, and the top of the proscenium still surivies. This cinema is one of the only documented that also still has the original murals on the walls. The plasterwork and murals were carried out by Clark & Fenn Ltd, who continued trading up until the mid 00s.
(note how every lion has his nose smashed off, 60s vandalism maybe?)
All of this can be seen in this picture
View attachment 800882
The Regent was designed by William Edward Trent, who was the in-house architect of Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT). During the 1928 construction of the building, this company was taken over by Gaumont British Picture Corporation (PCT logos are present in the building, so I assume it therefore must have actually opened with incorrect branding) In 1949, the building was renamed the Gaumont. The building is also possibly the last cinema to be built in a classical style, once 1930 hit, art deco was almost instant. There is now only one remaining PCT cinema that is still showing films.
1929 photos
Gaumont cinemas were taken over in 1941 by The Rank Organization, which also owned Odeon. The Bournemouth Gaumont always performed well in times where others struggled, and was the best performing cinema locally. In the 1960s, larger Gaumonts that could accommodate such events played host to live pop acts. The Bournemouth Gaumont was one such venue and had performances from Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, and a one week residency from The Beatles from 19-24 August 1963, and a one-night return on 30 October 1964. However, The Gaumont was not immune from the decline of cinema attendance in the 1960s, and eventually it was being considered for dreaded multi-screen conversion. The cost involved of this work was enormous, and as Odeons were more popular that Gaumonts, it shows a lot about the profitability even in tougher times that this building was listed for conversion and not the nearby Lansdowne Odeon.
Once the 1968-9 works had finished smashing the building to buggery, removing the huge domed ceiling and filling it with asbestos, the new Cinerama screen was also unveiled. This was a new technology at the time, Essentially a massive concave screen. The original screen was removed in the mid 2000s, but the Cinerama auditorium remained until the building closed, and was the last one in the country.
1968 ruining
The Gaumont brand was declining after it stopped being included on first circuit release in 1959. The closure of another nearby Odeon in 1976 meant that Rank could have changed the Gaumont name to Odeon at that time, but kept it going until 1986 (only two other Rank cinemas kept the Gaumont name past this time), showing that it clearly still had a significant pull on the area..
In 2017 the Odeon upped sticks, and moved to a hideous building on the opposite side of the gardens. A delightful property developer purchased the building and proposed to smash all the building down apart from the facade, and stick a 10 story block of glass clad flats out the top, like some kind of cordyceps (put 'cordyceps attenborough' in youtube if you don't know what that is. Fascinating yet fucked up and a perfect analogy). Surprisingly, the council refused the planning, and every other application since. Odeon sold the building with a restricitve covenant that it is not to ever be used as a cinema again. But will they change that for a indie cinema? Will it be smashed to the ground for 100000 student flats? Who knows!
As far as the explore goes, this one was bittersweet. I initially hid in the cinema on the final showing of the final film. I found a spot behind some chairs, we hid for about an hour before cleaners found us. They were as confused as I was as to why they were cleaning a building that was shutting down, but had no problems letting us run around. So we did - until a member of staff caught us upstairs and threw us out. Fast forward a year and a bit and I get word that the building is open. I waste no time and check it out straight away. Annoyingly, I didn't realise it was stripped out and only has half the power working, which has made most of my pictures.... shit. Anyway, here's the report!
What was the cinerama screen
Porn
I think most people have something that's their kind of urbex porn. Mine is plasterwork. Despite the 60s, quite a lot of plaster, and the top of the proscenium still surivies. This cinema is one of the only documented that also still has the original murals on the walls. The plasterwork and murals were carried out by Clark & Fenn Ltd, who continued trading up until the mid 00s.
(note how every lion has his nose smashed off, 60s vandalism maybe?)
All of this can be seen in this picture
View attachment 800882
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