Going To The Pictures

Memories are made of this… Project overview

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.

Cinema Heritage Interactive Map

Explore this map of 21 local cinemas within a 3 mile radius of the Plaza, from 1930 to 1960.

Representation of women

Like cinema itself, the way women have been represented on the big screen has changed through the decades

The Metropole Stanley Road Bootle

The fantastic five storey building was built in 1911 as a theatre and described as “artistic throughout”

The Gainsborough Knowsley Road Bootle

The Gainsborough, opened in 1922 and was named after the famous painter Thomas Gainsborough. It was built almost directly opposite The Picture House of Bootle and helped bring about its closure.

ABC Minors

“Our street gang used to go to the REGAL for the ABC Minors, and we sang our heart out….”we are the boys and girls well known as, the members of the…..” after the song was […]

Queues to get into the cinemas

There were often queues to get into the cinemas because they were so popular.

Flyer for the film ‘Cape Fear,’ Bootle Gaumont

Flyer for the Boolte Gaumont Cinema which has been kept for over 50 years and scanned especially for the Going to the Pictures Project. The flyer from 1961 is advertising a future presentation of the film ‘Cape Fear’

Filming memories with Crosby High School

Through the project we have been filming cinema memories, some of these can be seen as small clips on the website and the whole interviews have been put into the North West Sound Archive