Art Deco style cinema in Evesham, Worcestershire.

Not perhaps as high deco as the Regal, Rochdale, or the Embassy, Braintree, this is still clearly deco with its rounded corner, the rule of three in windows to left and chevron patterned doors:-

Central portion:-

Doors:-

From left. Rule of three in windows again:-

On the way back from Powis Castle we decided to take a quick look at Welshpool – the signposts to the castle had led us to bypass the town centre on the way there.

I spotted this building on Berriew Road and of course had to stop for photographs.

What a stunner. It absolutely screams Deco. The curves, the banding.

It’s the former Pola Cinema, now a beauty and fitness spa.

Its windows are also a delight:-

I found these images of the cinema’s past incarnations on the internet at cinema treasures.

As a town, Oswestry in Shropshire, England, may have seen better days. A lot of the buildings in the town centre looked tired.

The former Regal Cinema certainly has the deco look, though it’s now what looks like a hairdresser’s plus a Factory Shop. The original glazing would have looked better but the replacement windows are adequate:-

Reverse view. The canopy and roofline above are good features:-

Could this once have been a Woolworths? It’s now a Poundland anyway. And a Pep & Co:-

Frontal view:-

The Sports Direct has also seen better days:-

British Heart Foundation:-

This is now a B&M Bargains but may once have been a Woolworths. It has that look:-

Eden Rural Power:-

Reverse view. Art Deco rule of three in upper front and lower side windows:-

Doors on the Alhambra Cinema:-

Seen in an antique shop/yard. An old advert for Critall Windows, which were the height of Art Deco style. (The link contains all my mentions of Critall Windows):-

Art Deco Building, Peterhead. Now home to Superdrug:-

Art Deco Former Pub, Peterhead. Next to former Regal/Kingsway cinema, Marischal Street:-

Once the Drummer’s Bar, now unoccupied:-

The Regal/Kingsway Cinema, Marischal Street, opened 1939, stopped showing films before 1970.

High Art Deco stepping and verticals. Rule of three in separate verticals:-

I found several Art Deco buildings in Peterhead including two former cinemas in the style.

This one was the Playhouse (opened in 1931, finally closed 1999) in Queen Street:-

(Stitch of two photos to get it all in. It’s not really curved.):-

This photo is taken from the Scottish cinemas website

These photos were shot from one or other of the two bus tours we took in Liverpool.

This looks like a former Burton’s* but may not be. It’s certainly Art Deco:-

A former Woolworths is to its left (right as you look at it.)

Former Woolworths closer view:-

*Edited to add:- I looked at this again and realised it was more like an old cinema so I researched old Liverpool cinemas and discovered it was the ABC Lime Street, see here.

Rochdale in Lancashire, a few miles north of Manchester, isn’t quite the grim post-industrial town I had half-expected. Its town centre is in fact fairly well appointed and its Town Hall a marvel I shall come to later.

But what I was most looking forward to seeing (having glimpsed it in the background to a photograph of a family member) was the former Regal Cinema – an imposing Art Deco building now housing a Wetherspoons called The Regal Moon. Note the rounded wall, the horizontal rule of three in the central windows and the vertical one in the flanking blocks:-

Frontage. There’s even rule of three in the white columns surrounding the central windows and in the detailing above the lower central windows plus a beautiful roundedness to the four white pillars and their peaks:-

Opposite view. Note the lack of symmetry in the right-angled corner as compared to the curved one on the far side. The stepped upper levels descending towards the rear mirror the other side though:-

Some pictures of the cinema in its days as a picture house are here.

The ultra-modern clean lines of Sneek’s cinema argue against it being Art Deco:-

Yet despite its rather austere look there’s a definite deco feel to this. It might just be the flagpole but there is “rule of three” in the windows:-