TRIBUTE TO A CINEMA - THE CARLTON (1934-2007)
Carlton cinema images: 1.) The cinema as the single screen Classic cinema in 1981. 2) Film fans queue outside the Carlton on the final night 1 November 2007. 3.) The Carlton pictured after the bomb struck in 1940. 4.) A recent picture of the Carlton prior to closure
I am sad to have to report that the Carlton Cinema, High Street, Cosham, Hampshire is closing down on 1 November 2007 after seventy-three years of showing movies. This news comes after the local council rejected an application to demolish the cinema and build a block of student flats on the site. This was due to the fact that the land was considered unsuitable for housing and in addition the Carlton stands on a early Medieval site. So it looks like the building will stand derelict after the closure unless somebody comes along and decides to take up the reigns after the current operator closes the doors on Thursday night.
The Carlton first opened its doors on 28 February 1934 as a single screen art-deco cinema with a seating capacity for almost 2000 patrons. The opening ceremony was performed by the then film star, Jack Buchanan, whose film, That's A Good Girl, was the first film to be shown here. The cinema suffered incredible bomb damage during WW2 (see top photograph) and had to be rebuilt. Like so many cinemas that began life as large single screen complexes, the Carlton was tripled to create three cinemas in 1982. The circle was split into two auditoria whilst the former stalls area became the largest main screen. Over the years the Carlton changed hands many times and went through numerous name changes such as Essoldo, ABC, Odeon, Classic and Cineplex.
In January 2003, the cinema was operated by Odeon who decided to give up the lease and close the site because it was unprofitable. This resulted in a petition by local people campaigning to keep the cinema open and a small independent cinema chain agreed to take on the lease. Within the space of four years, the Carlton changed hands no less than three times and support for the Carlton was poor. This was mainly due to the fact that there are two multiplexes in the Portsmouth area, which meant that the Carlton was under severe competition from the major cinema operators.
Over the past four years I have supported the Carlton as much as I could because I loved the venue. It has always been run as a traditional picture house and I always enjoyed the screen tabs going up and down between the ads and the main feature accompanied by the music as the certificate came up and the curtains began to part. The cult film nights were always worth catching. It was here where I finally got to see The Exorcist on the big screen, a film that I had never dared to see before and I was delighted to be seeing it for the first time in a cinema rather than on the TV and where better to see it than in Screen One at the Carlton, a traditional cinema in every way?
In conclusion, it is a great pity that this splendid venue looks set to go the way that so many of the High Street traditional cinemas have gone over the years. I think that if the cinema was to go in the art house direction it could stand a good chance of survival. Indeed many of the traditional cinemas that have survived are now art houses and I could quote you quite a few examples of this all day. I will greatly miss this venue because I have never been keen on multiplexes, which are just boxes with no presentation or atmosphere with a super duper Digital sound system that has been turned up far to high and popcorn thrown about the floor. The film to be shown at the Carlton is to be The Majestic starring Jim Carrey. This is a very good choice as its plot deals with the reopening and restoration of an old movie house, The Majestic of the title. Alas, I am saddened that I will not be able to attend the final night so I decided to do a small tribute to one of my favourite cinemas here.
I am sad to have to report that the Carlton Cinema, High Street, Cosham, Hampshire is closing down on 1 November 2007 after seventy-three years of showing movies. This news comes after the local council rejected an application to demolish the cinema and build a block of student flats on the site. This was due to the fact that the land was considered unsuitable for housing and in addition the Carlton stands on a early Medieval site. So it looks like the building will stand derelict after the closure unless somebody comes along and decides to take up the reigns after the current operator closes the doors on Thursday night.
The Carlton first opened its doors on 28 February 1934 as a single screen art-deco cinema with a seating capacity for almost 2000 patrons. The opening ceremony was performed by the then film star, Jack Buchanan, whose film, That's A Good Girl, was the first film to be shown here. The cinema suffered incredible bomb damage during WW2 (see top photograph) and had to be rebuilt. Like so many cinemas that began life as large single screen complexes, the Carlton was tripled to create three cinemas in 1982. The circle was split into two auditoria whilst the former stalls area became the largest main screen. Over the years the Carlton changed hands many times and went through numerous name changes such as Essoldo, ABC, Odeon, Classic and Cineplex.
In January 2003, the cinema was operated by Odeon who decided to give up the lease and close the site because it was unprofitable. This resulted in a petition by local people campaigning to keep the cinema open and a small independent cinema chain agreed to take on the lease. Within the space of four years, the Carlton changed hands no less than three times and support for the Carlton was poor. This was mainly due to the fact that there are two multiplexes in the Portsmouth area, which meant that the Carlton was under severe competition from the major cinema operators.
Over the past four years I have supported the Carlton as much as I could because I loved the venue. It has always been run as a traditional picture house and I always enjoyed the screen tabs going up and down between the ads and the main feature accompanied by the music as the certificate came up and the curtains began to part. The cult film nights were always worth catching. It was here where I finally got to see The Exorcist on the big screen, a film that I had never dared to see before and I was delighted to be seeing it for the first time in a cinema rather than on the TV and where better to see it than in Screen One at the Carlton, a traditional cinema in every way?
In conclusion, it is a great pity that this splendid venue looks set to go the way that so many of the High Street traditional cinemas have gone over the years. I think that if the cinema was to go in the art house direction it could stand a good chance of survival. Indeed many of the traditional cinemas that have survived are now art houses and I could quote you quite a few examples of this all day. I will greatly miss this venue because I have never been keen on multiplexes, which are just boxes with no presentation or atmosphere with a super duper Digital sound system that has been turned up far to high and popcorn thrown about the floor. The film to be shown at the Carlton is to be The Majestic starring Jim Carrey. This is a very good choice as its plot deals with the reopening and restoration of an old movie house, The Majestic of the title. Alas, I am saddened that I will not be able to attend the final night so I decided to do a small tribute to one of my favourite cinemas here.
posted by Michael Harris | 4:44 pm
1 Comments:
Just to update the information on this post. Since the Carlton's closure on 01 November 2007, the four-screen Odeon Cinema at Portsmouth's North End closed on 10 January 2008 and the last film was Will Smith's "I Am Legend". This cinema was another one which began life as a single screen venue when it opened in 1936 then went the way of so many others and was multi-screened. Regrettably I never got around to visiting this cinema but had been thinking about going down to see a film there for a long time as there had been rumours about the venue's proposed closure for a long time. It is a shame to see another traditional cinema close down and either be reduced to a pile of rubble or be converted into a supermarket.
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