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The State Cinema
Possibly one of the best examples of an Art Deco cinema you will find. Now, no picture taken will ever show the beauty that this place has to offer, honestly takes your breath away when you see it. Definitely a place that has been frozen in time since it closed, perfect time capsule explore.
History
The State Cinema was built in Grays, Essex and designed by architect Frederick Chancellor. The cinema was supposed to be named 'Roxy' but was opened under the name State. It was built for a cost of £100,00 (£3-4 million pound in today's money) and opened on the 5th of September 1938 (7:30pm to be precise.) The first film to be shown was 'The Hurricane'.
The building was named as a Super cinema, it included a 2,200 seat auditorium, a bar and a restaurant. It was fully equipped with air conditioning and a beautiful Compton Organ.
During the second world war, an anti aircraft gun was mounted to the top of the state tower, it was used for shooting down enemy planes trying to bomb London. As Grays is situated near London it was perfect location for the gun.
The Compton organ inside consisted of 500 organ pipes and could be raised out of the orchestra pit and could sit flush with the stage. This was one of a rough 500 that existed at the time of the state opening, now there are only a handful of these organs that are still in their original condition and in their original locations, and one of them is currently sitting in the State Cinema. Most cinemas had pipe organs installed during the 1920's and 30's, their main use was to provide music during silent films and also music for the start and end of films, and they also used it during the intervals.
However, in 2011 the cinema was broken into and vandals took metal from inside the state. They also took some of the pipes from the organ. These pipes were located under the stage and have no significant value on their own without the organ. It's estimated it would cost around £10,000 for the pipes to be replaced. The thieves also left a number of pipes sitting on the stage, presumably to come back for. These pipes are still there now.
The Cinema during the 1980's was put in jeopardy, mostly due to the rise in multi-screen cinemas that were being built during the time. Also this age saw a huge increase in video film rental and the cinema was threatened with closure. The current owners of the State 'Mecca Leisure' decided to leave the cinema in 1985 after running it for 10 years thus closing the cinema.
Just a year after the cinema closed, it opened up again by new owners 'Robins Cinemas' they renamed The State to "The Grays State Theatre"
It opened with a showing of 'Back to the future' and also offered £1 tickets!
Robins Cinemas held a showing of 'The Hurricane' on the 5th of September 1988 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the cinema.
The cinema ran up until 1989 when it was finally closed due to costs and lack of local support. The doors closed for the 2nd time on the 30th November 1989.
During all of this, in the mid 80's The State was granted listed status, this was to protect the art deco interior.
In January 1991 the cinema opened again but this time under the name of 'Charlestons Nightspot'.
This new lease of life showed the cinema as a wine bar / night club.
Some renovations were made but in a whole the state was kept unchanged.
Charleston’s also put on evening concerts in the auditorium, some of the names that performed there include, Suzi Quattro & David Essex.
The Nightspot ran for a strong 7 years and closed in 1998.
That same year, the 'Peniel Pentecostal Church' put in application for the building to be used as a church but it was dismissed.
In February 2000, the listed status on the building was upgraded to Grade II listed.
The same year, planning permission was approved for supermarket chain 'Morrisons' to build a store on the states old car park; this was at a cost of £10 million pounds.
As part of the deal with Morrisons, they promised Thurrock Council that they would upkeep the now vacant State Cinema. Morrisons noted in 2001 that there was water damage inside the main auditorium but the leak was sealed to prevent any further water ingress.
In 2003 another structural survey was carried out by the supermarket chain, this told a different story to the one a few years before. Although the main integrity of the building was secure there was a big issue with water ingress. This was later found out to be due to poor water drainage on the roof and also poor roof fixings. This ingress slowly ate away at the walls, starting a decaying process which couldn't be altered just by 'patching the roof up again'.
The building was sold in October 2006 to TSP Properties LTD for £550,000 (A Steal considering the Compton Organ is probably worth near that amount).
TSP stated the cinema would never re-open under its built purpose but they would explore options to renovate and re-open The State as a leisure hub.
TSP owned The Cinema up until 2015 when it was reported pub chain 'Wetherspoons' had bought the building with views of turning it into a Pub.
In 2016 The Cinema was cornered off and it looked like work had begun. Wetherspoons stated this was for structural checks and site surveys and no work had begun yet.
Today
Today the cinema is still not in use, 2 years after Whetherspoons bought it. They have re-assured that they are going to be starting work on it but such no avail yet.
The Explore
Wow, this explore has been on the list for a while but has always been impossible! This place was on serious lock down since the break-ins in 2011.
I soon saw myself being obsessed with the state and needed to get in.
After it coming up in conversation with the usual crew a few times, we soon dismissed the idea after having no luck in the past with access, assuming it was still completely and utterly not do-able.
This was until a possible access point was discovered, with a few reccy visits and few weeks of planning we found ourselves ready to explore the beast which is The State.
After around 1 & 1/2 hours looking and waiting for the best moment, we made our move. A few tense moments later and we were in, couldn't believe it! We headed straight into the main auditorium, to try and avoid the PIR minefield that was in the lobby of the cinema.
All in all we spent about 4 ish hours in there and could easily have spent another 4+.
As always feedback is welcome, long report with lots of pics. Enjoy
Possibly one of the best examples of an Art Deco cinema you will find. Now, no picture taken will ever show the beauty that this place has to offer, honestly takes your breath away when you see it. Definitely a place that has been frozen in time since it closed, perfect time capsule explore.
History
The State Cinema was built in Grays, Essex and designed by architect Frederick Chancellor. The cinema was supposed to be named 'Roxy' but was opened under the name State. It was built for a cost of £100,00 (£3-4 million pound in today's money) and opened on the 5th of September 1938 (7:30pm to be precise.) The first film to be shown was 'The Hurricane'.
The building was named as a Super cinema, it included a 2,200 seat auditorium, a bar and a restaurant. It was fully equipped with air conditioning and a beautiful Compton Organ.
During the second world war, an anti aircraft gun was mounted to the top of the state tower, it was used for shooting down enemy planes trying to bomb London. As Grays is situated near London it was perfect location for the gun.
The Compton organ inside consisted of 500 organ pipes and could be raised out of the orchestra pit and could sit flush with the stage. This was one of a rough 500 that existed at the time of the state opening, now there are only a handful of these organs that are still in their original condition and in their original locations, and one of them is currently sitting in the State Cinema. Most cinemas had pipe organs installed during the 1920's and 30's, their main use was to provide music during silent films and also music for the start and end of films, and they also used it during the intervals.
However, in 2011 the cinema was broken into and vandals took metal from inside the state. They also took some of the pipes from the organ. These pipes were located under the stage and have no significant value on their own without the organ. It's estimated it would cost around £10,000 for the pipes to be replaced. The thieves also left a number of pipes sitting on the stage, presumably to come back for. These pipes are still there now.
The Cinema during the 1980's was put in jeopardy, mostly due to the rise in multi-screen cinemas that were being built during the time. Also this age saw a huge increase in video film rental and the cinema was threatened with closure. The current owners of the State 'Mecca Leisure' decided to leave the cinema in 1985 after running it for 10 years thus closing the cinema.
Just a year after the cinema closed, it opened up again by new owners 'Robins Cinemas' they renamed The State to "The Grays State Theatre"
It opened with a showing of 'Back to the future' and also offered £1 tickets!
Robins Cinemas held a showing of 'The Hurricane' on the 5th of September 1988 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the cinema.
The cinema ran up until 1989 when it was finally closed due to costs and lack of local support. The doors closed for the 2nd time on the 30th November 1989.
During all of this, in the mid 80's The State was granted listed status, this was to protect the art deco interior.
In January 1991 the cinema opened again but this time under the name of 'Charlestons Nightspot'.
This new lease of life showed the cinema as a wine bar / night club.
Some renovations were made but in a whole the state was kept unchanged.
Charleston’s also put on evening concerts in the auditorium, some of the names that performed there include, Suzi Quattro & David Essex.
The Nightspot ran for a strong 7 years and closed in 1998.
That same year, the 'Peniel Pentecostal Church' put in application for the building to be used as a church but it was dismissed.
In February 2000, the listed status on the building was upgraded to Grade II listed.
The same year, planning permission was approved for supermarket chain 'Morrisons' to build a store on the states old car park; this was at a cost of £10 million pounds.
As part of the deal with Morrisons, they promised Thurrock Council that they would upkeep the now vacant State Cinema. Morrisons noted in 2001 that there was water damage inside the main auditorium but the leak was sealed to prevent any further water ingress.
In 2003 another structural survey was carried out by the supermarket chain, this told a different story to the one a few years before. Although the main integrity of the building was secure there was a big issue with water ingress. This was later found out to be due to poor water drainage on the roof and also poor roof fixings. This ingress slowly ate away at the walls, starting a decaying process which couldn't be altered just by 'patching the roof up again'.
The building was sold in October 2006 to TSP Properties LTD for £550,000 (A Steal considering the Compton Organ is probably worth near that amount).
TSP stated the cinema would never re-open under its built purpose but they would explore options to renovate and re-open The State as a leisure hub.
TSP owned The Cinema up until 2015 when it was reported pub chain 'Wetherspoons' had bought the building with views of turning it into a Pub.
In 2016 The Cinema was cornered off and it looked like work had begun. Wetherspoons stated this was for structural checks and site surveys and no work had begun yet.
Today
Today the cinema is still not in use, 2 years after Whetherspoons bought it. They have re-assured that they are going to be starting work on it but such no avail yet.
The Explore
Wow, this explore has been on the list for a while but has always been impossible! This place was on serious lock down since the break-ins in 2011.
I soon saw myself being obsessed with the state and needed to get in.
After it coming up in conversation with the usual crew a few times, we soon dismissed the idea after having no luck in the past with access, assuming it was still completely and utterly not do-able.
This was until a possible access point was discovered, with a few reccy visits and few weeks of planning we found ourselves ready to explore the beast which is The State.
After around 1 & 1/2 hours looking and waiting for the best moment, we made our move. A few tense moments later and we were in, couldn't believe it! We headed straight into the main auditorium, to try and avoid the PIR minefield that was in the lobby of the cinema.
All in all we spent about 4 ish hours in there and could easily have spent another 4+.
As always feedback is welcome, long report with lots of pics. Enjoy
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