Regent Cinema Redcar to be demolished.....

Robert Nichols said:
It was a special place. The replacement will be a cinema but won't have the memories or the architecture or the history. Think of how people constantly attack Stockton council for building the Castlegate centre over their heritage or Middlesbrough for losing the Royal Exchange and the Cleveland Scientific Institute etc. Once it is gone it is gone.
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I saw the film about Nelson Mangela there a few years ago - and Im sure I could hear the sea....
 
I think it is really iconic from the front. Simplicity of design.
Remember when the Odeon was demolished in Middlesbrough people were wooed by pictures of a tower block replacement - the biggest tower in the north east - that went well didn't it? It perhaps also mirrors plans afoot for a new tallest building in Teesside.
People said the Middlesbrough Odeon was all front - art deco is all about the front. Seriously who looks round the back of buildings, especially cinemas. It is all about the front.
Did you know back in the day when the Regent building was constructed on a pier - that Redcar was one of the biggest seaside resorts in the entire country? It absolutely dwarfed Saltburn through the first four decades of the 20th century. The Esplanade was planned by council spending. And it really worked with the numbers that day tripped or visited for work week down from Scotland etc. And that was at a time of massive depression and unemployment of up to 90% in East Cleveland and parts of Middlesbrough.
Anyway... I think it would be a shame for Redcar it is a really iconic building. Or could be.
 
I was working for Connexions and took a group of kids there. Me and my colleague went to get a coffee and the lady in the kiosk said ‘you don’t want one of them, I’ll bring you one up.’ Sure enough, up she came with two mugs of coffee for us.

I can’t see that happening in the new place.

I always loved going to the Regent, a proper old cinema.
 
RandySavage said:
When the building was inspected it was shown that roof rafters were in immediate danger of caving in and causing potential injury and even death. As others have stated the cost to repair the building would not be worth it as repairs would only last around 10 years.

I get the sentiment I do but a brand new building housing 3 screens, hospitality and and events room can only be a good thing for Redcar and the surrounding areas.
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I agree with everything you said until you mentioned the events room. Redcar already has one near the boating lake where the old baths stood.
 
Sadly I can just about remember the previous Regent and it's rival the Central (the queue for 'Hard Days Night' going from the box office of one, round the block and past the other).
When they were demolished, the conversion of the old, long disused, 'New Pavillion' theatre into the new Regent looked like a poor substitute. Nothing of note replaced them on that site.
 
Anton_Berg said:
Sadly I can just about remember the previous Regent and it's rival the Central (the queue for 'Hard Days Night' going from the box office of one, round the block and past the other).
When they were demolished, the conversion of the old, long disused, 'New Pavillion' theatre into the new Regent looked like a poor substitute. Nothing of note replaced them on that site.
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Yes, when the original Regent and the Central were demolished in 1965 my mum was working in the nearby main post office and when we picked her up from work my dad used to park up in the yard to the post office’s rear where all the red GPO and olive green Post Office telecommunications vans were kept. The cinemas were adjacent to this and I can still hear the sounds of the bulldozers working on the cinema sites.

I can’t remember anything much about the original cinemas but must have been in one of them to see Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, although I slept through most of it!

The original Regent was spectacularly Art Deco internally but rather brutalist on the frontage. See this site for the original Regent: https://www.bugandflea.com/redcar/regent-redcar/
 
fmttmadmin said:
I think it is really iconic from the front. Simplicity of design.
Remember when the Odeon was demolished in Middlesbrough people were wooed by pictures of a tower block replacement - the biggest tower in the north east - that went well didn't it? It perhaps also mirrors plans afoot for a new tallest building in Teesside.
People said the Middlesbrough Odeon was all front - art deco is all about the front. Seriously who looks round the back of buildings, especially cinemas. It is all about the front.
Did you know back in the day when the Regent building was constructed on a pier - that Redcar was one of the biggest seaside resorts in the entire country? It absolutely dwarfed Saltburn through the first four decades of the 20th century. The Esplanade was planned by council spending. And it really worked with the numbers that day tripped or visited for work week down from Scotland etc. And that was at a time of massive depression and unemployment of up to 90% in East Cleveland and parts of Middlesbrough.
Anyway... I think it would be a shame for Redcar it is a really iconic building. Or could be.
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Agree with all that. I recall complaining bitterly on these pages when the Middlesbrough Odeon was demolished and being ridiculed by some philistine on here who said there was no architectural merit in the place. Oh yes there was. Not only that but despite being a relatively recent (1930s) building it was, rather incredibly, one of the oldest buildings in the centre of the town. Not the most scandalous loss of a building in the Boro but a real shame nonetheless. It’s a huge pity the Opera House was demolished around 1970, that must have been fantastic inside in its original state. Such a pity that no photos of its interior exist.

An opera house....in Middlesbrough!
 
fmttmadmin said:
I think it is really iconic from the front. Simplicity of design.
Remember when the Odeon was demolished in Middlesbrough people were wooed by pictures of a tower block replacement - the biggest tower in the north east - that went well didn't it? It perhaps also mirrors plans afoot for a new tallest building in Teesside.
People said the Middlesbrough Odeon was all front - art deco is all about the front. Seriously who looks round the back of buildings, especially cinemas. It is all about the front.
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The last time I was in the Odeon Rob_FMTTM was when it was Jumpin' Jacks to see up and coming band Shrug;):cool: opening what I take was Music Live in those days. Only time I had been in the place when it was a pub but I thought it looked great and would have been a good venue for live music as it was really large with a decent stage area. Criminal that it now is a fVcking car park like the fantastic Scientific Institute building across the road. Buildings long gone but Shrug remain thankfully.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/nostalgia/nine-fine-buildings-middlesbroughs-history-9795504
 
Foggysfplandiet3 said:
Agree with all that. I recall complaining bitterly on these pages when the Middlesbrough Odeon was demolished and being ridiculed by some philistine on here who said there was no architectural merit in the place. Oh yes there was. Not only that but despite being a relatively recent (1930s) building it was, rather incredibly, one of the oldest buildings in the centre of the town. Not the most scandalous loss of a building in the Boro but a real shame nonetheless. It’s a huge pity the Opera House was demolished around 1970, that must have been fantastic inside in its original state. Such a pity that no photos of its interior exist.

An opera house....in Middlesbrough!
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Hard to believe there's no photographs. It's sad how old stuff was knocked down. Talking to my brother and he said people wanted new. The old was just that, a representation of all that was thought to be bad.
 
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