The past couple of years have been brutal on cinemas of all kind. But older picture palaces, which tend to be small, often with only one screen, are finding it especially hard to survive
Many old cinemas were killed off by television. The survivors have seen film lovers lured away by multiplexes, with their larger, comfier seats. But the past couple of years have been brutal on cinemas of all kinds. Since they reopened after the pandemic rising costs have pushed up ticket prices. Many viewers, now attached to paid-for streaming services, remain disinclined to leave home. Business is picking up: theCinema Association says that in 2022 ticket sales rose by 59%.
In May Odeon closed several old picture palaces including one in Magdalen Street, Oxford, which opened in 1924 , and another in Ayr on Scotland’s south-west coast. Ten miles along the coast from Clevedon, in Weston-super-Mare, it shut a 1930s art deco cinema that boasted a rare, but once common, Compton pipe organ.
Clevedon’s Curzon went bust in 1995. Since then it has been run by a charity. Its survival has been aided by its proximity to a prosperous city: Bristol, with its thriving creative industries, has provided both visitors and supporters, including the founders of Aardman, makers of Wallace and Gromit. Its story illustrates three reasons why old cinemas can be worth saving when they are no longer viable businesses. The first is their architecture. The Curzon’s interior has ornamental tin-tile panelling and an elegant proscenium, exposed when a false ceiling put up in the 1970s was taken down in 2020. Though some cinema buildings are listed, their interiors are hidden or destroyed when they become gyms or cafes.
Cinemas that function partly as museums are also repositories of social history. In recordings of Clevedonians from more than a decade ago in the Curzon’s online archive, an elderly woman recalls a “Mrs Cox” accompanying a silent Charlie Chaplin film on the piano. Others describe the enchantment of going to the flicks at a time when there was little other entertainment. “The films we used to see were delicious,” remembers one. “Ooh, Clark Gable.
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