A short lease extended the Carlton’s life until 1964. Some time before, the classical exterior which had graced Walthamstow High Street since 1913 was simplified. After closure, the auditorium was converted into a supermarket and what survived of the original frontage was replaced with sheet metal cladding. It remained a cinema-indisguise until 1986. Unusually, in fifty one years of cinematic life its name remained constant.
They stand as a tribute to builders, designers and craftsmen from a lost world.
The Savoy, Lea Bridge Road on the other hand became a Gaumont, an Odeon, a Curzon, and then a Classic cinema upstairs with Vogue bingo in the stalls. In 1979 bingo took over completely; first Granada, later Gala. Now it is the Potters House, the latest chapter in the life of many former cinema buildings, saved first by bingo and now by religion. Only Walthamstow’s Granada was afforded the lifeline of subdivision. In 1973 one screen became three, increasing choice but reducing seating capacity and ending live shows. The following year the borough’s other Granada – the former Rialto – closed and was quickly demolished, ending a colourful life that began in 1909 as a roller skating rink. In 1977 EMI denied rumours they were planning to close the ABC (Ritz) Leyton, despite having obtained a bingo license. With similarities to the EMD in Walthamstow eleven years later, the huge cinema once seating 2,418 was taken over as an independent in 1978 and renamed the Crown. Losing over £500
Dominion (ABC), Walthamstow 1930-1961 Bingo hall until 1996. Architect: Frank Ernest Bromige.
a week and needing major repairs, the owner B.D. Kundra tried in vain to rent out the stalls as a disco while manager Syd Lloyd took desperate measures, making ten staff redundant. In December 1979 The Brute (a torrid tale of wife battering) and Holocaust 2000 were shown. After such cheery fare some Friday night Kung Fu films followed before this mighty single screen survivor from the golden age of cinema closed. It became a B&Q store.
Just two cinemas in the borough remained and both were on Hoe Street. From 1970 the former Cameo at Bell Corner became a Tatler cinema featuring adult films and live striptease until it became an amusements centre in 1981. The Granada was now the sole survivor, changing its name and ownership several times before closing in 2003 at the hands of an evangelical church. Over a century of entertainment at the Empire/Cameo/Tatler and later Rileys, ended in 2016 as the Hurricane Rooms, where elaborate auditorium plasterwork survived in the gloom above the heads of snooker players. In the brickwork of the Dominion, Buxton Road are coin marks made over sixty years ago by children as they queued. Both cinemas are earmarked for replacement with flats but Good Brothers who built the Empire, have as a memorial their Empress/Scala/Plaza/Cameo near the Bakers Arms; now a church and one of only two borough cinemas protected by listing. The other, also on Hoe Street, is to many the EMD, ABC or even Cannon. I prefer the Granada. Now called Mirth, Marvel and Maud and with much hope pinned on its future, films are back thanks to Nick Bertram’s Stow Film Lounge. He’s the obvious choice to run a pop-up cinema in a cinema, having shown films across the borough during the absence
St James Electric Picture Theatre / Super / Regent, Walthamstow 1911-1939.
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