The Empire Cinema was a 1920s structure in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, Lancashire, in England, United Kingdom. It was built as a cinema and was used as such until 1959 when it became a nightclub, known as Casino. The Casino club hosted concerts by acts including

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...

. In 1974 it became a

bingo hall Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers. Bingo, also previously known in the UK as Housey-Housey, ...

and operated as such until 2020. The structure was

locally listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

but was demolished in 2021.

Cinema

The structure was constructed between 1928 and 1929 for Nottingham Cinemas Limited. It was designed by Lancashire architect Halstead Best. The structure, in Hawes Side Lane, had a

proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

width of and between 868 and 929 seats. The cinema served as a meeting hall for Labour Party events in the 1930s. The theatre was modernised in 1939 which saw its capacity increase to between 1,094 and 1,194 seats. During the early 1940s the science fiction writer

John Russell Fearn John Russell Fearn (1908–1960) was a British writer, one of the first to appear in American pulp magazine, pulp science fiction magazines. A prolific author, he published his novels also as Vargo Statten and with various pseudonyms including T ...

served as the cinema's chief projectionist. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Fearn was the only full-time science fiction writer in Britain. When writers lost their status as a

reserved occupation A reserved occupation (also known as essential services) is an occupation considered important enough to a country that those serving in such occupations are exempt or forbidden from military service. In a total war, such as the Second World War, w ...

in 1941 Fearn was obliged to undertake essential war work. He served in an aircraft factory but found the work hard ("it damned near killed me") and managed to get approval to accept the offer of a job at the cinema from his friend who was manager there. Fearn enjoyed the work and it gave him enough spare time to write 5,000 words a day. The cinema closed in 1959.

Later uses

The structure was later converted into a nightclub, branded as Casino. The club hosted concerts by many popular musicians such as

, Tom Jones and

Gerry and the Pacemakers Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...

. In 1974 the club was purchased by Elaine and John Bottomley and converted into a

. The couple owned five other bingo halls in the town but after John's death in 1994 Elaine sold the other sites.

Demolition

The bingo hall closed in 2020 with Elaine Bottomley blaming the effects of the COVID pandemic and social distancing measures. She had sought planning permission to convert the structure into 14 flats in 2018 but this had proved unviable due to the age of the building. In April 2021 the structure was demolished to be redeveloped for housing. The structure had been

at the time of its demolition. Since the demolition

Blackpool Council Blackpool Council is the local authority of the Borough of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It is a unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additiona ...

passed a direction to require planning permission for the demolition of any locally listed building.

References

{{Blackpool buildings Former cinemas in England Buildings and structures in Blackpool Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Buildings and structures demolished in 2021 Music venues in Lancashire Demolished buildings and structures in Lancashire Former music venues in England