“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

architectural plans for The Stella

It was described as a “super cinema with seating for 1,200”.

Opening in December 1920, the cinema was a popular venue for many years until film bookings became more difficult to come by and restricted their use of first run films.

The Stella has been described as being “a grand cinema” and a “bit posh”. With glazed white marble like facia and steps leading in.

In July 1958 the Stella showed its last pictures with the double feature of ‘If I’m lucky’ staring Perry Como and ‘Plunder Road’ which stared Gene Raymond. The building was used for a very short time as a roller skating rink before being demolished to make way for Stella Shopping Prescient.

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Due to the rolling and changing film program and the large number of cinemas, there was always lots of choice.

It was a warm, dark environment away from family and friends. That was until the lights would go on and many friends in courting couples would be scattered around the cinema especially on the back row. The cinema acted a social venue in which people from the community could come together, meet and find out who was dating who.

“One of  my  earlier  memories was  around 1934. We  were  one of the  first  families  to  move into the  new  Housing  estate of  Daley  Road,  No.  8, that was  before the  Regal  was  built, we  used to  have  to  walk from  Daley Road.  to  either  the  Coliseum in  Linacre  Road  or  the  Stella  in  Seaforth.  For  a while  we used  to  go to  the  Stella  on  a  Saturday, as we  followed the  Serial  of  Roy  Rogers. The  usual  Matinee charge  was  two pence, but  every  Saturday they had a  special  “A  Penny  Rush” a  few  minutes  before the  start  the  manager  used  to  come out and  shout,  “Penny  Rush door number” whatever it  was  for  the  day, and the  first  half a dozen at that  door  got  in  for  a  penny, which meant you had an extra penny for sweets. There used to be a  mad  scarper  for  that  door.  I think I did reasonably well at that.”

Tom Lennon (I live  in  Brisbane  Australia now)

“In the Summer of 1939 on the eve of World War II, I was 12 years old. My mother sent me on a ‘holiday; to my sister who was in married quarters at The Kings Regt. Barracks off Sandringham road, Seaforth. {Sandy Road}

I recall two visits to The Stella, A narrow frontage fairly low grade Picture House. Prices were low and matched the general standard / age of the films shown. My recollections are of seeing :-The Informer – An Irish Troubles Story staring Victor Mc Laglen and The Scarlet Pimpernel – French period drama starring Leslie Howard as Sir Peter Blakeney.

My memory of the interior is not now too clear – bearing in mind most of the time the lights were out. I believe it was quite a small picture house – about a third of the size of sat The Plaza Crosby. Seating at the Stella was very basic in keeping with the price/standard of custom they set themselves i.e. low rental fees for old well used films equated to similarly low admission prices. I believe they had matinees several days in a week and were open most if not all {except Sundays} in the 1930’s.

As a boy going to The Pictures in a strange location of Seaforth coming from the “Far Off” area of Anfield – It was an experience to be remembered although the building was forgettable.”

Eric Hooton

 
Watch Eric’s video memory below