ABC Clapton
217a Lower Clapton Road,
London,
E5 8EG
217a Lower Clapton Road,
London,
E5 8EG
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Associated British Cinemas Ltd.
Architects: William Riddell Glen
Styles: Art Deco
Previous Names: Ritz Cinema
Nearby Theaters
Located in the east London inner city district of Clapton. The Ritz Cinema opened on 23rd October 1939 with Gary Cooper in “Beau Geste” and Rosella Towne in “The Adventures of Jane Arden”. It was built by Associated British Cinemas (ABC) and designed by their house architect William R. Glen in one of his typical Art Deco styles. Seating was in stalls and circle.
It was located almost adjacent to the Kenning Hall Cinema (there was a church between them). The Ritz Cinema had a very un-eventful life, the only significant happening was in 1962 when its name was changed to ABC to bring it into line with all the other cinemas in the circuit.
The ABC closed on 15th September 1973 with Richard Benjamin and Dyan Cannon in “The Last of Sheila”. Within weeks the building was demolished and the empty site stood unused apart from cars parking on it. In 1994 a block of residential flats was built on the site.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
A set of 6 vintage photographs of the ABC Ritz Clapton:
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Dear Ken Roe , we have a face book page Called growing up in Hackney, I like many of my friends have been looking for a photo of the Ritz, as a child in the forties I used to go to the Ritz cinema with my sister Pat, not just to see the movies , but we participated in some dance routines, thou I was very young at that time , I have fond memories of it,, A number of years latter I met My first Serious Girl friend there she was an usherette .Most of us were born in the war so we are nearly past our use by date, ha ha , In the past on some flicker pages they let us use photos on the understanding we attribute the photos to the owners, and wondered if you would let us use the external photo that you show of the RITZ in Lower Clapton London E5 , it would make a lot of us oldies happy to be able to Reminisce of out time there in Years gone by, I would be great full if you could reply to me with a yes, Regards David Turbutt
TURBS, Sorry for this late reply to your comment, but I don’t read every comment posted every day on the thousands of cinemas we have on the site. The photos I linked in my comment above are not my photos. I am sure you will be able to use the same link to your Facebook page with no problem. If you wish to use individual photos, then you will have to ask the owner of the Flickr account and if he says ‘yes’, then credit him.