Cinema Nostalgia

Cinema Nostalgia

 

The information on this page is from a recent enquiry made by Saffron Screen about our holdings about cinemas in Saffron Walden.

Ernest Smith built the Saffron Walden Cinema in 1912. It originally used rear projection but, after World War I, the cinema was extensively refurbished, and a more conventional projection system was installed.  At the same time, the auditorium was ‘turned around’, and a sloping floor was installed.

By 1921 the cinema was owned by the Tozer and Linsell Circuit. By 1935 it had become known as the Walden Cinema.

Unfortunately, It was completely destroyed by fire in August 1950. Once the site had been cleared a new Walden Cinema was constructed and opened in July 1954.  Unfortunately, it only lasted for ten years, as it closed in June 1964. It did re-open briefly, in the late-1960’s under K. Harris and R. Thorn.  It was a popular venue for teenage discos in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Shortly after this is closed and the building was demolished, flats now occupy the site.

There was also the Plaza Cinema built and opened on Station Street (on the left as you walk up the hill) in 1932 by Mr A. C. Cooper.  In 1937 he leased it to Mr J. H. Gotch.  The owner’s son, Bill Cooper, took over the Plaza Cinema in the late 1960’s, but the cinema closed in 1975. The building was used as a warehouse until its demolition in 1990.

Saffron Screen opened as an independent community cinema, based at the County High School on Audley End Road in May 2006…. https://saffronscreen.com/inside-saffron-screen/

 

Notes on images

SAFWM : 1999.48.13 & 14 & C153/154- Saffron Walden Cinema, built in 1912. Burnt down in 1950. It was located by the war memorial at the top of the High Street.

SAFWM : 1999.49.1 & 7.1 – Plaza cinema – pictured 1963, 1964

SAFWM : 1999.48.3 - Walden Cinema, 1964.

SAFWM : 1999.48.1 - Walden Cinema, 1965.

SAFWM : 1999.48.6, 8 & 12 - projector room at the Walden Cinema, Saffron Walden, 1964.

SAFWM : 1999.50.6 – disco at the Walden cinema in the 1970s