“My father did shift work, so every third week we would all go to the pictures either to the Regent, Plaza or the Corona.

If it was the Corona we would have an early tea, rush from Brownmore Lane down Endbutt Lane through Coronation Park to get to the Corona Picture House, which was were the Co-op shop is now in College Road. The park would be closed when we went home so we walked the full length of College Road, Kingsway, Stuart Road and into Brownmore Lane: A long evening out.

Most Saturday afternoons I would go with school friends to the Stella in Seaforth, as the father of one of my friends was the manager and we would get in free.

Sometimes we would go to the Queens or the Winter Gardens picture houses; they were also known as the ‘Flea Pit’.

We always had to stand in queues to get into any picture house.

On Saturday mornings there was a club for children, I think it was 6 pence to get in.”

Cherie Bootle

The site had long been known as an entertainment venue and had previously been known as Marsh Fields hosting Lord Sanger’s travelling Circus and troupes of pierrots and travelling fairs.

The cinema was opened on 21st May 1920 and was originally built for a small group company but handed over to the larger GB Circuit in 1928.

The cinema was a large white building and had the name The Corona Cinema in gold letters at the top.

From when it opened the cinema had an orchestra which would accompany the silent films, as cinemas at that time didn’t have sound systems or speakers like they do now and narrative of the film would be shown via text on the screen.

Page boys would be employed by The Corona and carry sandwich boards around the area promoting the latest films and coming attractions.

The Corona was the first local cinema to be equipped for sound on March 31st 1930 showing the ‘Great Gabbo’ featuring Eric von Stroheim and Betty Compson. It was known locally as the “Talkie House with Orchestra.” The Corona had strong competition from other local cinemas.

In 1942 the nearby Plaza and the Corona were owned by the same company – Circuits Management Association, and the Corona was the first suburban cinema in this chain to close.

The Corona closed as a cinema in 1957. It then became a dance hall and was later demolished. Now shops stand in its place.

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“I remember the Corona in College Road, went there quite a lot in my youth.  One occasion was when the film “The Outlaw” starring Jane Russell was on.  Now this lady was renowned for her ample proportions above the waist and it was intriguing for us young girls to see what this was all about.  So a couple of us persuaded our dads to take us to see this film on the pretext that “it was a jolly good cowboy film”, mind you I think our dads really enjoyed watching it!”

Anne Worsley