The Regent Picture Theatre 429 Princess Road, Fallowfield

Now demolished, the cinema was decorated in the Spanish style. The front elevation was comparatively restrained, painted white with a colonnaded veranda above the main entrance doors. At night the building was flood-lit, emphasising the canopy and the arch in the auditorium wall. The Spanish theme was continued through to the interior, with rough textured plaster treatment to the walls, an idea taken directly from contemporary American interior design. The cinema was still designed for the showing of silent films with provision for an orchestra. However, the Souvenir Programme produced for the opening night in August 1929 showed that the management were well aware of the growing interest in 'talkies' but were unclear as to their response. They indicated a willingness to provide "facilities for the immediate installation of the same, should patrons desire Sound Films. It is felt, however, that it would be better to provide a first-class Orchestra and the best Silent Films obtainable to commence with and to obtain later the opinion of Patrons as to whether Talking Films are desired or not".

MANCHESTER'S SPANISH KINEMA - Messrs. Artingstall and Sons, 14a, Cannon Street, Salford, have secured the contract for the new Picture Theatre to be erected in Princess Road, South Manchester, by the Gorton District Cinemas Ltd., Manchester. Messrs. Drury and Gomersall, architects and building engineers, of Imperial Buildings, Oxford Street, Manchester, are the architects. The theatre, to be known as The Regent, is to be on the most lines, built on the two-tier principle, and with accommodation for 1,200 people. At the screen end there will be a large stage equipped for special presentations. Construction will be steel-framed and fire-resisting throughout, the design being Spanish in character, both internally and externally. [Kinematograph Weekly 13 September 1928 page 103]

Equipped with an 18 feet deep stage and six dressing rooms and sited on Princess Road opposite Whalley Range High School it was intended to serve the newly built Wilbraham Road housing estate. Around 1959, it was briefly taken over by the Ward Cinema Circuit and was re-named Cresta Cinema, but closed in May 1960 and was demolished in 1961. A BP filling station now operates from the site.