Regent Cinema

Located in the southeast London district of South Norwood, on Portland Road between Crowther Road and Doyle Road. The New Electric Theatre was opened on 7th February 1911. It has a single storey facade and entrance, and a long passage led to the auditorium which was built at the rear of other buildings on Portland Road. Seating was provided for 300 on a single sloping floor.

It was closed in August 1911 and re-opened after improvemts had been made on 30th October 1911. It was closed in 1914, and remained so, until it was re-opened in 1917 as the Electric Theatre.

In July 1919 it was re-named Mascot Cinema, and seating was listed as 340. In the mid-1920’s it had a new name La Rosa Cinema, but this was short lived, and it became the Electric Cinema in 1928.

Closed again by 1930, with the cost of installing talkie equipment being the likely cause. It was again re-opened in 1934 as the Regent Cinema, but closed in February 1935.

During World War II it became a restaurant, and after the war became a kitchen for preparing school meals. From March 1963, it was converted into a youth club, known as the Socco-Cheta Club, offering snooker, television and an activities room. The Socco-Cheta Club was closed in 2005, and the building was put up ‘For Sale’, remaining unused in 2008.

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