Site of the Former Queens Cinema, Wolverhampton.
The glorious Queen Square.
This is quite an interesting scene. Four buildings feature in front. Leftmost is the HSBC Bank, which used to be one storey higher than it is now! Next is an extension to the bank. The rightmost of the four is Lloyds Bank, which has some exceptional classic design, unlike the very poor replication to the left which is now an extension to the bank. Previously, though, this was the Queens Cinema, Wolverhampton – the third in the City, opening 30 September 1914.
This superb picture house was later taken over by Gaumont British – subsequently resulting in the organisation having three cinemas in the City, including the Odeon featured a few days ago. It closed on 7 February 1959, to reopen as the Top Rank Ballroom (although known as the Queens Ballroom), but this only appears to have lasted a few months. It then remained empty until demolition in the late 1970s, to be replaced by the current rather unpleasant looking building in 1980.
For a bit more information, see the Cinema Treasures article.
An early view when the cinema was still open.
Photograph Details:
- Taken: 13 May 2020
- Camera: Canon 5D MkIII
- Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm 1:4 L IS USM
- Focal Length 16mm
- F/9
- 1/200 sec
- ISO 100