Savoy Cinema Fareham

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Taken on: December 16, 2021

Uploaded on: December 16, 2021

Software: Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384

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Sadly there are no photographs of the interior of the Savoy cinema. Attending school until 16 I managed to get a part time job week ends and during school holidays, mostly filling for staff breaks including sitting in the freezing car park attendants hut, lugging film cannisters up or down the circle stairs to the projection box, chiefs name was Bomber a name he got for serving on bombing raids during the war. He transferred to the Embassy after the Savoy closed. The best times there were being paid in cash or getting free snacks or tea from Ivy who worked in the restaurant kitchen. The auditorium was lit by a vast stepped lay light and you changed the lamps through a trap door on the roof. There was also a pair of alabaster fountain lights either side of the proscenium above the exit doors where ladders were required for the lamp changes. The entrance foyer had a pay box in the centre with steps up into the stalls, or either side of these railed stairways up to the circle or restaurant. The Managers office was front right, opposite on the left was a sales kiosk and store rooms where the lamps or canopy lettering were kept, staff rooms were either side of the stalls entrance. In this photograph is the entrance and exit to the car park, the emergency exit from the projection box, also can be seen under the canopy is lit by individual lamps about a 100 of them which meant they were always being changed. I remember sitting in the bus with my Mother at the bus station which was dead opposite the Savoy, during June 1953 and these canopy lamps had been changed to red, white and blue. The Embassy can be seen further along on the right. The Savoy used to show their films Mon - Sat with Sunday as a separate film, while the Embassy had a Mon-Wed, Thur-Sat and Sunday showings.

Ron Knee