Ritz Cinema

The Studio One was not brought out of mothballs until 1984 not 74 as i worked for Ken when he refurbished and re opened it Had it been 1974 as you state i would have been 10after it been abandoned in march 1972 by star cinemas this i also know as my nan was one of the usherettes there made redundant when Star announced it was to close. They got 5 days notice they were told on the Tuesday it was to closed after its last performance of Dr Zhivargo on the Saturday night and by the monday afternoon its facia signage poster frames had all gone its glass doors all covered in aluminium except for 1 door which was left for entry but the glass replaced by wood. The fire exits office windows and projection suite entrance on the side also covered with aluminium to prevent intruders.

Tne Ritz has become a Co. Ltd.
In order to better access funding
and to put the cinema on a sound footing we are now a registered company. The Ritz Cinema (Thirsk) Limited.
The stalls seating is slowly being repalced with one taken from the now sadly closed Castle in Pickering. We also intend to build a new projection room in order to upgrade the projectors, fit a tower and make room for the inevitable change to digital.
We go from strength to strength, with increasing audiences and improving facilities… independant cinema lives on!

We’re part way through a refit of the balcony. The old seating has been ripped out the raked terrace has been pulled up and replaced with a better rake suited to the new seating to be fitted.
More later and a photo to update Ian’s