The Plaza opened on 30th January 1933 to There Goes the Bride starring Jessie Matthews and Owen Nares, work having started on the site in May 1932. Being renamed the Granada shortly after the second world war, the cinema showed its last film in 1976. The building found later use as a Bingo Hall firstly as Granada, then Gala Bingo, before being demolished in 2011.
Plush décor
Following the pattern of the time, the Plaza was keen to emphasise the impression of luxury in its new building, boasting of its “auditorium [that] is panelled throughout in mahogany, the floor being covered with thick Wilton carpet.” The modernity of the projection system was also a source of pride. The initial cost of admission for an evening performance was 7d. and 1/- for the Stalls, and 1/6 and 2/- for the Balcony.
Cinema in Rugby
At one stage, Granada held a monopoly on cinemas within the town, owning three of the four and, when the Scala was subject to a devastating fire, taking on the lease with the sole purpose of preventing it from re-opening as competition. Come the mid 1970s, the popularity of cinema had declined to such an extent that there were no cinemas left in Rugby, until Rugby theatre started showing films. There is now also a Cineworld multiplex on the outskirts of the town.
A page about the building’s time as a bingo hall can be found here.
Comments
Before it was a Bingo Hall it used to be a cinema and when a friend and I went to watch Towering Inferno on a chilly evening we were surprised to find we were perspiring after the film was over, although it still was not that warm in the building.
There was a cinema on Regent Street, the Century. There were four cinemas in Rugby in my Mum’s time, there was definitely one down Railway Terrace (was that the Scala?).
Isn’t this a lovely building, aren’t they nice photos.
I used to go dancing and be on the stage sometimes at the Rugby Theatre.
In the late 50s I was watching a film in the Granada called something like Spanish Gold which was partly filmed in the Port of Dover. Much to my surprise my father suddenly entered the picture and walked across the customs shed. I didn’t know he and some colleagues who worked there had been used in some of the scenes. I would like to know the correct title of this film so I could attempt to get a DVD of it.
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