Former Abbey Cinema

This former cinema was designed by Sir Alfred Ernest Shennan for the Regal Cinema Company (Liverpool) Limited and built between 1937 and 1939. It displays the Moderne style with influences from both Art Deco and International Style architecture. The building was altered in 1979 and the early 1980s when it was converted into a supermarket, bingo hall and snooker club.

Construction and Materials

The cinema is constructed from brown hand-cut bricks with concrete and faience dressings on the exterior. Internally, it has a steel and brick structure with concrete floor levels. Later extensions added during the conversion were built in buff brick.

Location and Layout

The former Abbey Cinema occupies a prominent corner site at the junction of Childwall Road and Church Road North. It has principal elevations facing both roads, with the main entrance positioned at the west corner, directly opposite the Picton Clock Tower. The building follows a rectangular plan, with the proscenium area (the stage and screen end) located at the north-east end and the foyer and lounge at the south-west end.

External Features

All parts of the building have flat concrete roofs. The auditorium block's roof features cream faience copings. The windows throughout are metal-framed with large panes and brick soldier heads above them. These windows are believed to be replacements that follow the style and material of the originals but incorporate fewer transoms (horizontal dividing bars). Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout.

West Corner Entrance

The main entrance at the west corner is formed by a wide, full-height semi-circular projection. This striking feature incorporates three horizontal bands of glazing, separated vertically by fins clad with black faience (though this is missing in places) and horizontally by cream faience bands. The glazing bands diminish in height as they rise up the building.

At ground level, the entrance consists of three doorways positioned beneath a wide, flat, curving canopy that wraps around the entrance bay. This canopy now has an extremely deep late-20th-century fascia and signage hoarding, and it is not known whether the original slender canopy shown in historic photographs survives underneath. The brickwork between the entrance doorways was originally clad with black faience, but this has been removed and replaced with 1980s buff-brick facings built in front of the original surface.

The curved entrance projection is flanked by slender turret-like towers with narrow windows at the top. The left-hand turret contains an internal steel staircase providing access to the second floor. Both turrets originally had affixed lettering near the top spelling 'ABBEY', but this signage has been removed.

North-West Elevation

Extending from the west corner entrance along the north-west side of the auditorium block are two further projections. These increase in width and step down to the left of the entrance turret, each with curved north-east ends and overhanging flat roofs. The first projection maintains the same wall plane as the turret and features a tall band of glazing at first-floor level with a smaller window above, separated by vertical raised brickwork banding. The lower projection has a tall window and raised brickwork courses creating a horizontal banding effect that continues around a shallow south-west return.

Behind these projections rises the tall auditorium block, which features full-height brick fins that narrow towards the top and extend above the roofline. These fins have sunken bricks at each corner on alternate courses. At the north-eastern end of this block stands a square boiler wall stack.

At ground-floor level in front of these projections is a low single-storey buff-brick addition from the 1980s (excluded from the listing). This addition has a series of doorway openings, some aligned with the original fire exits and some additional, all now fitted with modern roller shutters.

At the far left (north-east) end of this elevation is an original single-storey projection with curved corners and a flat canopy projecting from its centre. This originally served as a secondary stalls entrance. The front wall has been built forward in buff brick during the 1980s and two doorways have been inserted.

Behind the entrance projection, forming the north-east end of the auditorium block (the proscenium and screen area), is a lower three-storey ancillary range that probably originally contained office space and staff rooms for the cinema. On this north-west side, it has wide paired horizontal windows on the two floors above the stalls entrance.

South-West Elevation

This principal elevation faces Church Road North and incorporates the south-west end of the auditorium block. It also features stepped projections, though these are styled slightly differently from those on the north-west elevation. Both projections are flush with the wall face of the adjacent entrance turret.

The projection immediately next to the turret is the same height as its counterpart on the north-west side and also has a curved end, but features two shorter windows and plain brickwork. The projection to the right is lower and longer than its north-west-facing equivalent, has a squared corner, and features slender horizontal windows.

The auditorium block behind displays three two-storey, round-headed window recesses at the centre. Each recess contains short round-headed windows at the uppermost part with raised vertical brickwork banding below. The recesses are flanked by ladder-pattern raised brickwork detailing that runs the full height of the auditorium block.

At the far right of this elevation is a stair tower with a tripartite front. The central section projects slightly and breaks through the roofline. The tower features slender stair windows at each floor level surrounded by cream faiencework. Internally, this tower contains a steel staircase providing access to the second floor.

At ground-floor level in front of this elevation is another low single-storey buff-brick addition from the 1980s (excluded from the listing). This has doorway openings aligned with the original fire exits (the original external wall and openings survive internally) plus some additional openings, all with modern roller shutters. One of these served as the main entrance for the late-20th-century bingo and snooker hall.

North-East Elevation

The north-east ancillary range is low, rising to three storeys. The two upper floors have windows in the same style as those on the north-west elevation, while the ground floor has larger windows (now with modern metal grilles in front) interspersed with fire exit doors fitted with modern roller shutters. Each floor features raised horizontal brick banding detail. A modern external flue has been installed between the first and second floors.

South-East Elevation

The south-east elevation originally faced the car park and consists of the south-east side of the auditorium block. It features the same fin detail as the north-west elevation. The ground-floor level is now (as of 2021) obscured by an attached large single-storey 1980s supermarket warehouse extension in buff brick, which is excluded from the listing.

Interior

Internally, the building contains both concrete and steel fire exit stairs, some of which are visible through later partitioning. At least one of the concrete stairs retains its original ramped metal handrails.

Ground Floor

The majority of the ground-floor areas have been altered following the conversion to supermarket use. This includes the entrance vestibule and foyer at the south-west end of the building and the stalls area of the auditorium. Upon inspection, it was not possible to determine conclusively whether original features survive behind later additions, partitioning, or floor coverings on this level.

The entrance vestibule originally had a glass mosaic floor but now has a modern polished concrete floor. Part of the north-east wall of the ground-floor foyer has been opened up to create access into the former auditorium, while the south-eastern end of the foyer has been partitioned off to create a smaller foyer serving the bingo and snooker hall entrance.

In the auditorium, a modern polished concrete floor has been laid to create a level surface where the former stalls area was previously raked. Encased steel columns support a concrete upper floor inserted in 1979. An inserted opening in the south-east wall leads through into the 1980s warehouse extension, which is not included in the listing.

The ground-floor foyer originally featured a wooden mosaic floor decorated with music motifs, a mirror-clad wall, a walnut-clad wall, and a ten-foot-wide green terrazzo staircase leading up to the first-floor lounge. The walnut and mirror cladding has been removed, but a section of wooden mosaic flooring remains visible in the partitioned south-eastern section of the foyer that was latterly used by the bingo and snooker hall. Later floor coverings prevent inspection of other areas.

This section of the foyer also retains the main foyer staircase, which leads up to the first-floor lounge and survives with modern tread coverings and replaced balustrades. A late-20th-century lift shaft has been inserted next to the stair, providing access to the former balcony level.

First Floor

The first-floor lounge has been subdivided and partitioned but retains its four large fluted ceiling domes (the original pendant uplighters have been removed). The south-western half of the lounge remains largely open, although the area directly above the main entrance has been partitioned to create a kiosk and small office.

An original Art Deco ceiling corbel shown in a historic photograph survives, along with wooden mosaic flooring decorated with music motifs. It is unclear whether this flooring survives in the other half of the former lounge due to later floor coverings. The original staircase from the lounge out to the balcony survives, although half of it is now concealed behind later partitioning.

The auditorium's proscenium, which was originally 42 feet wide, has been removed. The upper level of the auditorium above the inserted 1979 floor now has a 1980s decorative scheme applied to the side walls. Above a later inserted suspended ceiling is the original coved ceiling with rows of large fluted domes running from the rear of the auditorium to the front. These domes originally had uplighters at their centres, but the lights have been removed, and modern flues have been inserted through some parts of the ceiling and two of the domes.

The line of the balcony front appears to survive in part, although the south-eastern end has been interrupted and built out through the addition of a staircase and wheelchair lift platform leading down onto the 1979 inserted floor. Modern platform structures and balustrading have also been added to create two upper areas on the balcony. The seating has been removed, but the original timber seating tiers appear to survive in most parts of the balcony beneath the later additions and accretions.

At the north-east end of the auditorium are late-20th-century inserted partition walls. Behind these are a kitchen, toilets, and storage areas occupying the proscenium area and the first-floor level of the rear ancillary range. Also behind this partition wall, but at a half-storey above, is a shallow 1980s stage with a bingo call box, wall decoration, and two low mirror-clad curved flanking walls. These walls conceal entrances onto the stage and short staircases from the second-floor rear offices and staff rooms in the north-east ancillary range.

The ancillary range's offices have three large blocked-up openings in the south-west wall that were intended as viewing gallery windows for the 1980s squash courts. At each end of the ancillary range are early-1980s stairs, presumably also intended for use with the squash courts and subsequently used as fire exits for the bingo hall and snooker hall.

Second Floor

On the second floor at the south-west end of the building are projection and storage rooms. The building's brick and concrete construction is fully visible on this level, with some bare-brick walls and exposed concrete. A corridor runs alongside the south-west external wall and around the west corner, with rooms off to the north-east side and south-east end. Painted signage reading 'NO SMOKING' survives.

A projection room set centrally now contains later industrial-sized flues, while two enlarged flanking rooms intended for use as projection rooms serving the 1980s twin cinema have original Lenscrete rooflights and hatch access into the concrete and steel roof structure above the auditorium's domed ceiling. The corridor is accessed at each end via steel staircases.

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Note: Pursuant to section 1(5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, the low single-storey buff-brick additions at ground-floor level on the north-west and south-west elevations, and the 1980s supermarket warehouse extension on the south-east elevation, are declared not to be of special architectural or historic interest. However, any works that have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require Listed Building Consent, and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority to determine.