Report - The Kingsway - Cinema/Gala Bingo (post-fire), Kings Heath, Birmingham, November 2012.

[Voibmi]

- The Kingsway, Cinema (and later Bingo Hall) -

This place is quite ruined now after It's fire in September 2011, only half of It's still standing and there's a lot of graffiti...
I thought it still deserved a report though.

Other members have reports of when it was standing from around 2010, It's weird to see the difference and where constructions used to be.

The History...

The Kingsway Cinema at The Parade on Kings Heath High Street opened on the 2nd of March 1925 with Clara Bow in "Down to the Sea in Ships".
It was designed by Horace G Bradley, the same architect was responsible for a number of Birmingham cinemas - all in the neo-classical style.

It closed as a cinema in May 1980 when the final films were "The Bermuda Triangle" and a documentary feature "Encounter with Disaster".

As a cinema the building had 1362 seats (Seating was provided in stalls and circle),
towards the end of its cinematic life it was taken over by the Essoldo circuit and was licensed as a bingo hall for 903 occupants, Gala Bingo opened on the site in 1982 and closed in 2007.

The applicants described the Gala/Kingsway as "an important feature in the urban landscape of Kings Heath High Street."

The latest planning application was for a 300-seat restaurant and banqueting/conference facility with a capacity of 400...
Although following the fire of the building It's doubtful it'll happen now, who knows what It's future holds.

Photos...

The Main Room.

The toilets.

Ladies was a lot cleaner than the gents, guess how it always is.

Reception.

Projection Room. Weak warped floor and half the room's flooded.

The Roof.

It's a shame I never went when it was standing.

-Thanks,
-Voibmi.

​

 

[crazyjonhere]

Nearly six years since the fire and still nobody has done anything with the place what a shame Sometimes i don't know how people can afford to sit on these places and just let them get worse by the looks of it the people who seam to do more with these place are the graffiti artists and vandals sadly

 

[Spaghettiman]

Three years on from then, we now see that it has been mostly demolished and once again at a stand still, most likely will have housing/a food outlet or something of the sort but for now we wait. This was a year ago however and we haven't really heard anything since.

 

[westernsultan]

Here's an article from 2014 which was updated last year https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/bu...ew-plans-fire-ravaged-kingsway-cinema-7897084 and you may also like http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/19912