13 lost Blackpool cinemas which were once treasured including the Odeon and ABC
By Claire Lark
Published 24th Feb 2023, 10:02 BST
Updated 17th Jan 2024, 14:30 BST
There has never been a shortage of cinemas in Blackpool.
At the height of their popularity, it was estimated there were around 20 different picture houses across the Fylde Coast. One of Blackpool’s most well known was the ABC in Church Street. A former theatre, the cinema opened in the early 1980s as the three screen Canon Cinema, later the MGM and finally the ABC Cinema which closed in 1998. And, of course, the Odeon in Dickson Road was one of the resort’s premier choices. These nostalgic pictures look back at Blackpool's cinemas through the decades including those in Fleetwood and St Annes.
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Of course the Regent Cinema is still going strong as an independent cinema showing classic films. But it's time as a mainstream cinema finished in 1969 when bingo took over. It was lovingly restored around ten years ago and has proved a popular venue to catch an old film Photo: Submit
King Edward Pictures in Central Drive. When it opened in 1913 as Lancashire's first picture house it was named the Central Picture Theatre, later it became the King Edward Cinema. Since then it has been a Coral Bingo outlet and The Village. It will be preserved in the current Central Development Photo: staff