Top Rank Club

Top Rank Club (formerly Gaumont Cinema, Broadway)

A former cinema built in 1933-34 by the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation in collaboration with Associated Provincial Picture Houses. The architects were William Edward Trent (1874-1948) and Ernest F. Tulley. The building is constructed with a steel frame, brick clad with some internal blockwork.

Exterior

The symmetrical Moderne entrance facade combines artificial stone with brick. Four sets of original entrance doors are approached by five steps, flanked by two additional doors — one to the right serving as an exit, and one to the left formerly providing access to the cafe above the foyer. A cantilevered canopy extends over the entrance. Above this are long windows on two levels, divided into three sections by broad convex mullions with original glazing bars. The cafe, latterly used as a banqueting hall, occupied the second level. Above the windows is an area of artificial stone that formerly held moveable lettering for film programme advertisements. The composition is framed by artificial stone with squared volutes at the top, topped by two horizontal mouldings bearing the cinema's name. Two window apertures in brick appear at second floor level. The auditorium extends at right angles to and parallel with the street beyond the foyer block. The roof of the foyer block is not visible, while the auditorium roof is visible with a tall stage fly tower behind.

Interior

The ground and first floor foyers display streamlined Moderne style with convex and concave mouldings running along walls and ceilings, incorporating light fittings within the ceiling ribs — particularly pronounced in the inner foyer. Pier glasses serve as pilasters, with original Moderne radiator grills beneath them. The rising ground level requires a series of short flights of stairs to reach the main auditorium floor. Streamlined balustrades with brass handrails are fitted throughout. At the far end of the inner foyer, broad stairs rise to balcony level, halting at a landing where flights reverse in Imperial form, which previously provided access to the cafe (this connection is now blocked). Main balcony stairs are flanked by subsidiary flights to the stalls. Above is a coved cornice with original sans serif lettering reading STALLS CIRCLE STALLS, topped by Moderne ventilation grilles.

The main auditorium is a large double-height space in rusticated streamlined Moderne style. A semi-circular arched proscenium forms the focal point. Large arched niches on the curving ante-proscenium contain recessed mouldings surrounding slender features enclosing roundels with Egyptian-style motifs. Side walls display cigar-shaped niches bound by paired mouldings, each containing original globe light fittings topped by chromium Egyptian motifs comprising superimposed sun disks with lyriform horns. Stepped and curved cornicing with grills ornaments the proscenium area. A large balcony is fitted with a ceiling featuring cigar-shaped moulding containing recessed roundels. The deep stage retains a fly-tower and dressing rooms. A painted scene representing the signs of the zodiac by Frank Barnes may still survive on the safety iron in the fly-tower. The cafe to the front retains original ceiling and cornice detailing.

Historical Context and Analysis

This is a lavish super cinema of the 1930s combining Moderne, Egyptianising and Expressionist elements in its decoration — the latter probably derived from the interior of the Titania Palast cinema in Berlin (1928) by Schoffler, Schlonbach and Jacobi. It is possibly the most successful of the surviving Gaumont schemes by Trent and Tulley. From 1984 to 1996 the cinema was in use as a bingo club.