When I was a kid I was lucky enough to be taken to the cinema whenever a decent film was showing.
I grew up in a small town called Evesham in the West Midlands (UK). Originally, I believe there were once two cinemas in the town but I only remember the one and it’s called The Regal. It opened in 1932.
My earliest cinema related memories are of seeing movie posters advertising Highlander (1986) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986) lit up outside the cinema. My dad would often park outside, and my mum, my sister and I would sit in the car while he ran down to the nearby chip shop to get our tea.
Some of the first films I remember watching there are Santa Clause: The Movie (1985), Bambi (1986 re-release) and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (1988).
As a teenager my sister got a job at the cinema and would get a couple of free tickets per week to give to whoever she chose. I was always lucky enough to get one so obviously I went quite often and got to see a lot of movies.
My sister wasn’t the first member of my family to work there either. My Nan and Grandad met at the Regal in the early 50s when my Grandad was a projectionist and my Nan was an usherette.
Unfortunately a few years after I moved away the cinema closed and remained empty and unused for a number of years.
Thankfully though in 2009 plans were proposed to renovate and restore the building (costing 2 million pounds) and it was eventually reopened in 2012.
It’s now better than ever.
It’s a strange time at the moment and so sad to see so many businesses forced to keep their doors closed.
I think we tend to take things for granted, and having a cinema to go to even now and again is a blessing as far as I’m concerned.
I have so many great memories of visiting both the Regal in my home town and also the cinema in the town I live in now.
I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal and the doors of my local cinema and cinemas everywhere opening back up again.
Click here to check out the history of my old local cinema, The Regal in Evesham, Worcestershire.
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