Regent Picture House, Prescott Road, Knotty Ash, Liverpool

• Opened                10 October 1926
• Closed                  30 November 1968,

ANOTHER NEW PICTURE THEATRE - Owing to the inability of contractors to obtain delivery of seats, the Regent Picture House, Knotty Ash, Liverpool, could not open on Saturday as arranged. The opening will probably be this week. The proprietors of the Regent, which has accommodation for about 1,200 people, are the Regent Picture House, Ltd., of which Mr. R. Wilkinson is managing director.

The new theatre incorporates all the latest ideas in cinema construction. Near the entrance there is a large crush room for 500 people and adjoining this is another of similar capacity. Patrons for the dearest seats are brought in by two staircases, whilst those for the lower priced seats pass along a side passage to an intersecting gangway well down the body of the hall. A feature of the auditorium is that wherever one sits there is a comfortable view of the screen. For the first ten rows of seats there is a rake of one in nine, and after that one in eleven. The passages are not stepped. Two of the latest Kalee projectors have been installed and will show 22 feet by 15 feet picture. The throw is 96 feet. Adjoining the operating room is a store room and workshop, generator and switch- room, and winding room. Crompton generators have been installed and also a power centre switchboard. All the electrical work was executed by Messrs. Amos and Wright, of Liverpool. There will be an orchestra of eight musicians. For the evening performances, prices of admission will be 4d., 6d., 8d. and 11d. Messrs. Gray and Evans were the architects. [The Bioscope 7 October 1926 page 58]

The cinema closed on 30 November 1968 becoming a Mecca Bingo hall until 2004. The building has since been converted into the St Mary's Sports College Gymnasium.

Reference           The Bioscope 7 October 1926 page 58

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