# Wakefield ABC Cinema - July 2008



## sqwasher (Sep 13, 2008)

Our third explore of three places around Wakefield this day, Wakefield ABC opened originally in December 1935 & was known as The Regal Cinema at that time. William R Glen designed the building, he was the main architect employed by Associated British Cinemas during this era. It originally seated 1,594 people but following conversion 1976 it had three screens- screen 1 had 532 seats, screen 2 had 236 seats & screen 3 had 170 seats. The cinema is a most widely recognised due to it's proscenium arch which is 43 feet wide & has a full stage 26 feet deep behind it.

It became Wakefield ABC in 1962 then later the cannon before finally closing its doors in 1997. The building is due to be demolished & already has planning agreed to do this. Work was supposed to start in March 2008 but became delayed & now in the current economic climate this may increase the life of this present building even longer! The cellar was at the time of our visit totally flooded (6 feet +) & parts of the ground floor were around 1 foot deep in water, however after the recent weather this will only be deeper now. Anyhow enough waffle...here's my pics...i really struggled in dark places due to a ridiculously maximum short exposure time so hope these look ok. 

The view from the outside most people see






After all the water we reached dry land & the anticipation built





Then we entered stage left... (well kind of!)





Exploring the building we took in the view of this wonderful arch with the seating of screen 1





Then into screen 2-looking through where the screen was towards the main screen





Then into screen 3 with it's holed screen. This was the smallest screen.





The joint projection room for screen 2 & 3





Some random shots

Part of the aircon switching gear





The letter room (& residents!)





Original ballustrade, hidden during conversion in the 70's, revealed after closure





The battery room with back up batteries still intact





Then onto the roof for some views over Wakefield










Before finally leaving & heading home





Cheers if you've made it this far :jiggy:

Flickr is looking after a few more pics of mine if you fancy a peep...


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## Exploretime (Sep 13, 2008)

Great explore, i love the ' letter room'. Crazy that the banister was covered up for all that time. Nice one


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## Seahorse (Sep 13, 2008)

Oh, its proscenium arch. Of course. 

What's that then?


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## vanburen (Sep 13, 2008)

great pics you got there mate,about 50x better than i managed.good stuff.


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## sqwasher (Sep 15, 2008)

Cheers for your comments guys, Seahorse-it's the arch going over the stage. It's the first time i've heard the word!  It's got some great original features.


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## Gunhappyhippy (Oct 29, 2008)

I have also done the ABC and inside is a real atmosphere..a hidden energy. It is flooded but from what i understand this is from a spring in the lower basement. Some guys pumped it out years back but it soon filled up again...

Inside is pitch black.. absolutely zero lighting so ensure you have plenty of torches. Its full of pigeons and occasionally they will scare the crap out of you. THe roof is an amazing place but be very careful...

Here are a few shots from my explore

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gunhappyhippy/sets/72157603504981010/

Thanks,

GHH


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## ultrix (Nov 5, 2008)

Nice photographs. A lot better than the few that I took. Awwrisp and I were in there 2 weeks ago. The basement was still flooded and I guessed at around 6 feet.
It is possible to get across the water in front of the screen without needing wellies or waders. If you get up onto the roof, it is possible to walk across the auditorium roof and bypass the water. The roof looks like asbestos and gives a bit in places, but it has been tested to 10 and a half stones, by me.


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## awwrisp (Nov 6, 2008)

ultrix said:


> If you get up onto the roof, it is possible to walk across the auditorium roof and bypass the water. The roof looks like asbestos and gives a bit in places, but it has been tested to 10 and a half stones, by me.




But you've got a deathwish spidey


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## ultrix (Nov 6, 2008)

awwrisp said:


> But you've got a deathwish spidey



I guess it must be something to do with getting old.


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