Queens Cinema, Arkwright Street/Queens Road

[Notts Explorer 4]

Hi guys

I visited the site of the former Queens Cinema near Nottingham railway station today and took a couple of interior photos through a gap in the Arkwright Street frontage. I wonder if anyone in the know (e.g. anyone who actually saw a film there) could definitively confirm that the photos show the former cinema auditorium. It certainly looks like a cinema interior.

You can see the photos via the following link (sorry, couldn't figure out how to paste them into this post):

https://twitter.com/GorillaSpotting/status/730435209972330498

Thanks.

[DaveN 1,118]

Have a look at the link below - it might help!

http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;NTGM012499&pos=2&action=zoom&id=63947

Here's a brief resume of the cinema

Queens aka Midland Electric Picture Palace. Arkwright Street.

400 seats. Opened December 1911 – Closed June 1935

Reopened as “Queens” January 1936 – Closed January 1955

Demolished

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

I guess it must be the former cinema. I knew it used to have an entrance on Arkwright Street, but I hadn't realised it also went round onto Queen's Road. This map demonstrates the point. Arkwright St is the one coming up the centre.

The pink building you show in your Twitter link (where you took the photos ?) isn't on Arkwright Street, it's on Queens Road. I remember this building as a motorbike showroom by the 60s-70s.

[Guest]

Nice one,thanks..never knew one existed.

[trevorthegasman 150]

I can confirm the pink building was the cinema with the entrance around the corner,not happy about the JAN 1955 as the closing date because I remember going to see Clamity Jane there on the same night as the family set off for Hamburg in the early morning, train to Derby and onto Harwich to Hook of Holland that was 1955 but not in January,somethings you never forget......

Germany had won the world cup a year before we went......

[Notts Explorer 4]

Thanks chaps.

Cliff Ton: you're right, of course - I took the photos through a gap in the Queens Road frontage, not Arkwright Street. My mistake. I got carried away in the excitement of the discovery!

[mick2me 3,033]

Nice Blog as well Notts Explorer, nice to see it included in your signature.

I too never knew this was a Cinema, and came to Notts (Meadows) in 1963

[Notts Explorer 4]

Thanks mick2me. I only realised recently that it used to be a cinema. It may well have been a thread on this fine site that tipped me off.

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

The only picture I can find of the place when it was still a cinema. It's the dark building with the arched door to the left of the tram.

[Kendaldrac 40]

[trevorthegasman 150]

Nice one I went there every Saturday morning with all the other kids for Hoppalong,Flash Gordon etc,I remember one christmas they gave us all 3d and an orange,gee I miss it all, no money but not a care in the world....

[jasonxavier 0]

Hello all, I'm selecting this abandoned building as one my case study.

 

Wondering if anyone has more internal images of the cinema or even a rough floor plan of this cinema or even when it converted into other uses?

 

Even a rough floor plan from any flyers about this building or desciptions from your memory will be helpful. Really appreciate this!

[Beekay 5,143]

Jasonxavier,  if you're still wanting a ground floor plan of Radford boulevard,  I should be able to post you a copy tomorrow. Unfortunately got waylaid today. Are able to receive PMs, or will be OK on open thread?