Nottingham cinemas

[mick2me 3,033]

Thanks Red for the vid which I personally have not seen before.

Incidentally, the Odeon was an appalling building.

Built out of huge Breeze Blocks, Only Nottstalgic because of the connections with our youth.

[tomnook 4]

I posted the clip on Youtube - it's a short compilation of clips from a longer documentary (hence the poor editing!):

Short clip from the dvd/video of the same name available for £4.99 from Nottingham Audio Visual (NAV) Tel: +44 (0)115 939 3322

This film was shot on 8mm film using a Bolex camera - it won an award in 1965 when it was taken and was finally released to mark the unfortunate closing of the Odeon Cinema in Nottingham. The Odeon was the first multi-screen cinema in the UK.

Filmed by Bill Freeman and John Walker narrated by Alan Simpson

I wonder if anyone is able answer this comment on the video ??:

Does anyone know the name of the Shipstones pub next to the Moulin Rouge at

seconds ?

 

Was it called The Golden Key ?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[mick2me 3,033]

Welcome Tomnook

Great first post

I dunno about the pub but someone will.

Babs which one of your boys was in the Moulin Rouge?

[tomnook 4]

Thanks very much indeed for the warm welcome Mick!

Here's a link to my Youtube user page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/tomnookhd

there are a couple of videos which might be of interest - the clips from the Nottingham Victoria Station video are probably known to all, if not, then information about obtaining the original video is in the notes, a couple of bands I managed once upon a time, Paralex from Newark (recently re-formed to record a few tracks), Dawn Trader from Rock City (also recently re-formed).

My non-HD Youtube page has a few other Notts related clips - gigs from the Theatre Royal and another local band.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=tomnook111

Cheers!

[Commo 1,292]

Golden Key sounds about right from my selective memory.

[mick2me 3,033]

Dawn Trader, I remember, probably mentioned here before

[Cliff Ton 10,454]

I wonder if anyone is able answer this comment on the video ??:

Does anyone know the name of the Shipstones pub next to the Moulin Rouge at

seconds ?

Was it called The Golden Key ?

A bit blurred, but Golden Key looks a safe bet

[tomnook 4]

Great - thanks very much for the confirmation Cliff. Nice picture

[tomnook 4]

Meridian

"The main site in Haydn Road, Nottingham is now an administrative centre for
Sarah Lee Courtaulds' clothing business."

http://www.knittingtogether.org.uk/doc2cc25.html?doc=14181&cat=785

Interestingly, on the "Cinema of the 70's video", the Meridian sign isn't present however the shop underneath the sign appears to be selling hosiery - in line with Meridian's business. Looks like "John Gant" in the video.

[Cliff Ton 10,454]

tomnook

I note your past associations with local bands, and that you were born on Clifton, and you now live in Switzerland.........did you also have close connections with a record shop ?

(PM me if you don't want everyone to know )

[Beefsteak 305]

There was also a Meridian factory on Cavendish Road in Carlton, you should know that Mick, we used to meet near enough opposite it for years !!

[mick2me 3,033]

Long time ago!

Was it 39 and 27?

[Beefsteak 305]

72,39 and the 25 went from outside the shopping centre, later they changed to 26, 27, 28, 29 and kept the 25 now it's just the 25 and 27 The reasoning behind there being so many at one point was that they went different routes at the Wollaton park end , some via Bilborough and Glaisdale drive etc.

[Roosta 2]

On the subject of cinemas, I seem to remember being taken to somewhere called the 'Odd Hour Cinema' as a child in Nottingham in the 1950s, and watching cartoons and wildlife films. Anyone else remember this or is it my memory playing tricks on me?

[LizzieM 9,507]

Has anyone mentioned The Metropole in Sherwood, now a Co-Op. I have great memories of leaping off the bus before it had even stopped, outside the cinema, to get in the queue for the Saturday morning show. The place used to be packed and we'd all sing the 'We are the Ovaltineys' song. I never did like Ovaltine though!

[Commo 1,292]

Roosta, re #156,The Odd Hour cinema, previously The News Theatre, was on Upper Parliament Street next to the old Turkisk Baths. It was demolished in he early 1960's and I remember as a child going there to see programmes of news reels and loads of cartoons.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

Has anyone mentioned The Metropole in Sherwood, now a Co-Op. I have great memories of leaping off the bus before it had even stopped, outside the cinema, to get in the queue for the Saturday morning show. The place used to be packed and we'd all sing the 'We are the Ovaltineys' song. I never did like Ovaltine though!

Yes, the Metropole was our local cinema after we moved to Sherwood in 1961. Used to go there regularly, but I could never get up early enough on a Saturday to go to 'Minors Matinees'!

A particular memory is of Charles Hawtrey making a personal appearance at a showing of 'Carry on Cowboy' when it first came out (1966). Don't remember anything of what he said, though, and we were at the back of the stalls, so didn't get a good view of him either!

You could see the illuminated red 'Metropole' sign at the top of the tower for miles around at night. After it was closed and later became a Kwik-Save supermarket I used to go there occasionally. I understand the building has now been demolished and there's a new supermarket on the site (I haven't been up there for years).

[Roosta 2]

Thanks Commo, good to know my memory hasn't let me down!

[piggy and babs 544]

beefy you might just be a little too young to remember when 72 started running late seventies 39 ran from bottom of cavendish rd to crown island near were the co op now is when they started running 72 it did the same jurney but carried on to the juncktion with coningsworth rd the first 72 started about 1967 /68 they continued doing these routes with 39 still terminating carlton police station for several years eventually the busses ran to bilborough and 72 was extended to its present terminous at the top of coningsworth about 69/70 when carlton fourum opened .eventuall all the busses became 72s untill they decided to do a smaller loop in the hope of speeding up jurney times on all routes i think it was about this time they brought in all day travel tickets as the public were up in armes about extra cost and having to change busses all the time extending the journey time for people who wanted to go all the way from carlton to billborogh or ilkeston rd to get to work at players and raliegh and of course from the other direction.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Welcome to Nottstalgia, tomnook. You've put some good posts on and I look forward to reading more from you.

[tomnook 4]

Thanks for the welcome Michael - there's plenty of topics here to retain my interest!

In the early 70's I used to write a music column for a couple of local magazines - Platform, Nottingham Voice and Splinter before editing one myself with some friends, "Way Ahead" - I'm in the process of scanning them all and uploading them to a website. The Notts mags have some great "alternative" news stories. I've experimented with one of the Way Ahead mags which can be viewed here :

http://www.way-ahead.co.uk/

I now have all the Way Aheads scanned and will start on the others shortly.

I'll be sure start a new topic when they're all available online.

Cheers!

[plantfit 7,576]

Hi Tomnook,

I used to buy that mag in the 70's/80's from a newsagents on Parliament street just up from the Palais, thanks for the memory jog

Rog

[Merthyr Imp 729]

Great finds above.

Here's an atmospheric shot of the interior of the Mechanics Institution which became a cinema. Image dated at 1895

.

http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;NTGM005587&prevUrl=

I remember the screen when it was a cinema went across just where the curved part of the walls started, but it didn't go all the way to the top - you could see the ceiling with that decorative moulding above the top of it.

Around 1960 I think the Mechanics was the only city centre cinema we could afford to go to.

[piggy and babs 544]

LOVELY ARCHITECTURE TOO

[Merthyr Imp 729]

I remember the Lyons place as well from when I was a kid.

Stu, I agree, it was a fairly narrow place which went a long way back, and was on several levels. You went in at ground level and then went up a couple of flights of steps which were like terraces in a garden. The serving area where you got your food and drink was right up at the top at the back. Then you had to come back to the front half of the building to sit down and eat.

That's right. There was a long self-service counter on the left hand side. On day trips to Nottingham when we lived in Lincolnshire in the late 1950s a sausage roll and a doughnut in Lyons was a treat I always looked forward to. In later years, I would go in there for lunch on my way to work in Bulwell after morning day release at Arnold & Carlton College. The pie and chips were pretty ordinary though.

There was a shop area as you went in, before the steps, and my mother worked there for a time in the late 1960s.

Before it was Ladbrokes was it Pizzaland by the mid 1990s, or was that next door?