IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
High Street, CHRISTCHURCH, BH23 1AS

Looking across the High Street towards the town's theatre and cinema. Originally opened on Boxing Day 1931 as a cinema, it closed in 1979 and was taken over by the Mecca bingo club company. The bingo ceased in 1982 and the borough council bought the building later that year, since which time it has become an important arts centre in the town - cinema, theatre and live performance venue.

A plaque with a short biography of Gleeson White, who traded at Caxton House that once stood on the site of the present Regent Centre in the High Street. Image

The Regent Centre was once a cinema and then a bingo hall. The property was purchased by the local council in 1982 and restored in conjunction with local volunteers. It is now run by a charitable company. The building dates to 1931 at the height of the Art Deco era. The wheel has come full circle and it is now a cinema with state of the art digital projection replacing the old 35mm projector. Thanks to the foresight of the progenitors of the restoration project this fine building has escaped the fate of at least one former cinema which fell into the hands of a downmarket pub chain. Strangely, the building is not listed, unlike the Georgian/Victorian property to the left. See also https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6073400

The street is closed to motor traffic so that the Market can be held

A new appearance in High Street, outside the Regent Centre: an internet kiosk, operated by Cityspace http://www.kizoom.com/hardware/touch-screen-kiosks/index.html

The Art Deco Regent Centre. "The Regent opened on Boxing Day 1931 as the town’s cinema... The Regent retained this important role in the life of the community for over forty years until July 1973, when it was closed as a cinema and then re-opened as the Mecca Social and Bingo Club. The final cry of ‘house’ was sounded in February 1982. The need for an arts centre in Christchurch had already been well established in the town and in November 1982, Christchurch Borough Council purchased the Regent. A unique relationship was formed between the local authority and a group of over 100 enthusiastic volunteers. Together, they lovingly restored the Regent to all its early Art Deco glory. The Regent Centre in its present form was finally opened on June 11th 1983 by the actress Dora Bryan. Today, the Regent Centre is one of the finest examples of an early 1930s cinema to survive in Britain." https://regentcentre.co.uk/article.php?sec=aboutus The Regent still shows films but also stages amateur and professional stage productions and concerts.

The view is looking roughly north along Church Street to its junction with High Street and Castle Street. Image