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.
The Winter Gardens cinema was a popular place for showing ‘X’ certificate films and memories have been shared
The memories of Going to the Pictures we have recorded for the project will be stored within the North West Sound Archive so that part of our local cinema heritage is preserved for future generations
In 1933/34 I went to “The Pictures” for the first time, but I was not impressed. The black and white film was very old and scratched; it looked like driving rain to me. A few years later I went again and paid a penny to get in with a penny for ice cream in the interval.
Typical program from Gaumont Cinema Bootle 1962, advertising films that where to be shown at the cinema during the month of August.
My first memory of the pictures is coming to the Plaza to see ‘Oliver’.
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.
The beautiful building was demolished and now shops stand in its place