Regent Cinema
Cobden Street,
Darlington,
DL1 4JD
Cobden Street,
Darlington,
DL1 4JD
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Thompson's Enterprises Ltd.
Architects: J.H. Moston
Styles: Streamline Moderne
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Located in the Eastbourne district to the east of Darlington, on Cobden Street, off Yarm Road. The Regent Cinema was opened on 5th June 1939 with James Cagney in “Angels with Dirty Faces”. Built for Thompson’s Enterprises of Middlesborough, it was designed by architect J.H. Moston in Streamline Modern style, and had a square tower feature on the right-hand side of the façade. It was equipped with a Western Electric(WE) sound system. The proscenium was 34ft wide, and there was a small stage.
Despite its ‘out of town’ location, it was the first cinema in Darlington to be equipped with CinemaScope in 1954 when it played “The Robe” starring Richard Burton. By the early 1960’s it was operating as a part-time bingo club, with films on some nights, and soon went over to full-time bingo. The bingo club closed in the late-1980’s and the building was demolished in the early-1990’s to build housing on the site.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Thompsons' owned and operated two of my local cinemas (Darlington was within my catchment but the Regent closed when I was a small boy), namely Shildon Hippodrome (once a GB house) and the very ‘posh’ Durham Palladium. They owned their own ice cream company, ‘Erimus’ (the factory was close to the new Thompsons' cinema, Middlesbrough Majestic on Longlands Road) and I preferred it to the ‘Eldorado’ brand sold at the Essoldos in Shildon and Bishop Auckland……….