OLD CARDIFF CINEMAS' ! Is your favorite here (The County)

[Steve R]

Barry Boys eh! If you could get past the manager of the Theatre Royal you knew you could get past anyone.

Mr Williams.

[Rocco Siffredi]

Got my first sticky fingers in the Monico , still remember the whiff , pilchards and piss .

[JKB]

Memories came flooding back of the Saturday morning kids matinee, cheers Genie. Seems a lifetime ago.

[Steve R]

Got my first sticky fingers in the Monico , still remember the whiff , pilchards and piss .

Memories came flooding back of the Saturday morning kids matinee

Whoops!!

[BLUETIT]

I used to go to the Saturday morning kids matinee in Splott Cinema at the top of Pearl Street when I was still in junior school. It was 6d (old pence) down the front of the cinema and 9d at the back.

Same here.

Don't miss next weeks thrilling instalment of (just fill in the blanks

[life on mars]

YES

http://photos.cinematreasures.org/pr...JPG?1388249273

Yes for us Llanrumney boys it was heaven saw Clockwork Orange there ,went home over the wreck "singing in the rain " boot, down past the top shops and Countsabury Avenue and home, nostalgia just kicked in .

[William Treseder]

Remember my old man taking me to the Plaza to watch the first ever Rocky film.
The Regent in Ely holds some great memories as well. Remember seeing the Italian Job, and 10,000 yrs BC in there. The place erupted when Raquel Welsh got her tits out!
Saturday mornings were the best though. Me and my younger sister used to go every week with our little bags of sweets, to watch the cartoons and Flash Gordon.
Now I've been to many football matches and music gigs, where it's been so crowded it's been a bit scary, but nothing has ever compared to leaving the Regent on a Saturday morning. As soon as the final curtain came down, there would be a stampede for the doors, and down the famous steps, where you would literally take your life in your own hands if you were to trip up. Lol!
On a side note. Me and my sister used to rush home to tell my dad all about the latest episode of Flash Gordon, but he always mysteriously knew what had happened before we could tell him.
Wasn't till yrs later, he told me that his mate used to be the projectioinist there and he used to call over for a quick cuppa with him every Saturday morning 😂

[Toadstool]

Plaza

And the Rialto.

[Vindec]

The Gaiety. And what was the one on the junction of Wellfield Road and Albany Road.

[BLUETIT]

The Gaiety. And what was the one on the junction of Wellfield Road and Albany Road.

Globe, I think.

[ian gibson]

Globe, I think.

Aye, The Globe, cheapest cinema in Cardiff. Me and my brother were watching a film in there when a rat ran across our feet. There used to be an old rowing boat and piles of rubbish under the screen, the place was a health hazard but I loved going there.

[Vindec]

I think the least known of the cinemas mentioned was the Rialto in Old Church Road Whitchurch. My favourite cinema of all was the Gaumont which later became the Top Rank. Has the Odeon in Queen St survived the ravages of redevelopment? As my visits to Cardiff don't go beyond the CCS I haven't a clue what does and doesn't exist in the City Centre.

[Enoch Mort]

I think the least known of the cinemas mentioned was the Rialto in Old Church Road Whitchurch. My favourite cinema of all was the Gaumont which later became the Top Rank. Has the Odeon in Queen St survived the ravages of redevelopment? As my visits to Cardiff don't go beyond the CCS I haven't a clue what does and doesn't exist in the City Centre.

My first visit to the cinema was the Rialto. It was a bit of a flea pit. If I recall correctly it was a single storey building so there wasn't an upstairs. It was off Old Church Rd so if you didn't know it was there you would miss it. I recall it had a small advertising hoarding on a low wall that was between the Royal Oak pub and Boots next door. When I was young I remember a poster for a film called "Doctor Blood's Coffin" on the hoarding which my mother point blank refused to take me to. Happy days

[Vimana.]

Another compilation of closed Cardiff cinemas :

I bet nobody remember the Clifton?!

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/...?status=closed

[TH63]

If you will excuse me broadening the thread to include Newport, this was my first cinema experience - my mum took me to see Bambi.

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/new...ears/#gallery0

[Llanedeyrnblue]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifesty...nemas-10229141

Yes mine was the County, I know you've been there too Tony

[Cyncoed Slumdog]

Another compilation of closed Cardiff cinemas :

I bet nobody remember the Clifton?!

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/...?status=closed

Really surprised at that one. I went to St German's School just around the corner and lived off Clifton Street but never knew there was was a cinema there previously.

[Llanedeyrnblue]

It was, indeed, the County Cinema. I recall it very fondly having begun going there for Saturday morning matinees in the late 1950's. A few years later the County was THE meeting place in the area for Rumney / Llanrumney teenagers and it's where I met my first wife. At the time, there was little else to do or find entertainment if you were just too young for the pub. Few on a Saturday evening went to see the film - the object was to walk around in the dark trying to find a female willing to agree to your sitting next to her, begin a conversation and take it where you could.

It would get pretty steamy on occasions and the then manageress - one Doris Stoodley - would be prowling around ready shine her torch on and if necessary eject, any couple seen to be taking things too far. Anyone else old enough to remember Doris? As I say, very happy days with no worries bar where and with who the next encounter would arise.

I imagine all the suburban Cardiff cinemas at the time would have been the same?

I can remember her and her torch

[TH63]

Got my first sticky fingers in the Monico , still remember the whiff , pilchards and piss .

Always smelt damp to me. Mr Bull used to own it