Report - Plaza Cinema, Port Talbot December 2017

[mookster]

First off many thanks to Mr L for the heads up on this one, I don't often shoot cinemas as I don't really enjoy them all that much but this one is something else - certainly the best I've seen in the UK.

The imposing Plaza Cinema was opened on Easter 1940, and despite looking very much like an Odeon cinema of the time was always run independently. It closed it's doors in 1983 before enjoying a brief stint as a bingo club but that venture only lasted until 1985 when it reopened as a cinema again. In 1988 it was operating as a four screen cinema, although one screen closed and was cleared some time before it finally closed it's doors for good in 1999. It has sat vacant ever since.

I'm not sure what it was like in the foyer during Lenston's visit but during my visit there was water pouring through into it from recent rainfall, some areas were alarmingly wet. Thankfully the floors in there are all concrete and to be honest considering how long it's been empty with the various holes in the roof I'm surprised how solid the wooden floored areas are. I do like how they reused old seating in one of the newer screens, it was a nice touch. I'm a little bit rusty with my light painting as I found out as well!

Thanks for looking
​

 

[DirtyJigsaw]

Nice set there man

 

[tumbles]

The roof is a wee bit holy for sure. Still can’t quite work out how a four screen setup worked!

 

[dweeb]

The roof is a wee bit holy for sure. Still can’t quite work out how a four screen setup worked!

It's been "tripled"... or in the case ofor the Plaza "quadrupleled" when it became fashionable to show more than one film at a time.
By all accounts it was crap. If you were watching "the sound of music" in screen one, and "the longest day" was playing in screen two you'd get occasional echos of explosions in between the singing!

 

[mookster]

It's been "tripled"... or in the case ofor the Plaza "quadrupleled" when it became fashionable to show more than one film at a time.
By all accounts it was crap. If you were watching "the sound of music" in screen one, and "the longest day" was playing in screen two you'd get occasional echos of explosions in between the singing!

I have to say I was wondering that when looking at how close together the screens were. It seemed so cramped in there compared to how huge the main auditorium was.

I take it that the fourth screen was once in the middle area of the old auditorium.

 

[Lenston]

I was told by a few people that the picture quality on the side screens was terrible, probably didn’t help with its closing in the end.

 

[tumbles]

It's been "tripled"... or in the case ofor the Plaza "quadrupleled" when it became fashionable to show more than one film at a time.
By all accounts it was crap. If you were watching "the sound of music" in screen one, and "the longest day" was playing in screen two you'd get occasional echos of explosions in between the singing!

I get that bit.. its just I don't get how it was split into 4 in this occasion. There is no signs/marks where the top stalls/lower stalls would have been seperated. I'd have expected to seen evidence of the false walls etc - I think it was torn down and made back to 3 in 1988 and closed in 1989 so would haven't thought much was spent on the conversion downgrade!