The aim of the Going to the Pictures Project has been to help preserve a part of our local cinema heritage by collecting and recording memories from people who used and worked in the local picture houses from the 1930′s to the 1960′s.
Explore this map of 21 local cinemas within a 3 mile radius of the Plaza, from 1930 to 1960.
Flyers distributed in cinemas were a popular way to advertise forthcoming features.
The cinema for women from the 1930′s onwards has provided an escape from real life and a place in which they could find out about new fashions and trends
The cinema became a place of respectable employment and offered roles to both men and women
Opening in the roaring 20′s The Coliseum was a large 1400 seat cinema which had balcony and cafe lounge upstairs for cinema goers to socialise and wait for the silent film screenings to begin
The Going to the Pictures Launch Event gave guests an opportunity to reminisce and take a nostalgic look back at Going to the Pictures.
The Picture Palace of Bootle held film show matinees for children on Saturdays at 1pm and 3pm with prices of 1d and 2 d.
The cinema during the war years played an important role in keeping up morale and finding out news and information. It also was a place to escape for a few hours and get lost in the land of film.
In the early days of cinema films for children would often be of American origin and sometimes just be adult films which had been edited until British films especially made for the child audience came along following concerns about the effects of film on the young audience.