The Regal or ABC Cinema, Cambridge Road, Harrogate, 1983

Introduction

The photograph on this page of The Regal or ABC Cinema, Cambridge Road, Harrogate, 1983 by Anthony Eden as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

The Regal or ABC Cinema, Cambridge Road, Harrogate, 1983

Image: © Anthony Eden Taken: Unknown

The Regal Cinema (later to be the ABC) was built in the 1930s - the competing Odeon ('Oscar Deutch Entertains Our Nation') was built in 1936 and that even had a car park! Well, perhaps the Regal did too as there was a narrow passage between the Regal and St Peter's Church but it was mostly used by the long queues waiting to get a seat in the 1940s and 1950s. The BBC TV transmitter at Holme Moss would soon start to divert people away from the cinemas. Although it does not look spectacular during demolition with all its private parts showing, the Regal was just that, spectacular; it had a grand curving staircase up to the 'Circle' seating and everything looked much bigger than shown here. In fact it looks quite small! After leaving Harrogate in 1956 I just happened to be back in the town for a few days in 1983 and by chance came across the demolition. And, just happened to have a camera with me.

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