Copyright © David Flower 2000-2017
Disclaimer: No part of this website may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written consent of tintagelweb.co.uk
(David Flower). You may however, download on to a personal computer owned or controlled by yourself and you may make
a single copy of any part of this publication, for your private use or study.
Tintagelweb, nor it's affiliates, are not liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of information or
material contained in the site or from your access to the web sites of customers or other material on the internet obtained via links
from this site.
Kestrel 2017
TINTAGEL - KING ARTHUR COUNTRY
TINTAGEL WEB
STORIES OLD & NEW
REGAL CINEMA, DELABOLE 1958
HAVE YOU ANY PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE REGAL?
Thanks to Mike Davey
Regal Cinema Closed.
Before The Show Starts.
“Many people may not realise that a super small cinema with
230 seats, once existed at Atlantic Road, Delabole.
Films were changed twice weekly back in the 1950s
when I was the chief projectionist.
We used to have an evening performance at
7.30pm and a matinee at 5pm on Saturdays. There was a
children’s matinee on Saturday mornings and in the summer,
if wet, we held an afternoon show.
My own early memories of ‘The Regal’ was in the 1940s and
my mother and two sisters often walked from Tintagel to Delabole
to ‘go to the pictures’. After the show we would often purchase
some fish and chips from a small shop at the top of Medrose Street.
During the time I was employed at the Regal
the cinema would be busy most evenings and particularly
on Wednesday and Friday
nights when Fry’s Coaches arrived. There were also buses from
Port Isaac and Camelford (Tags Hayne’s).
In 1952 I was a so called 'Rewind Boy’ at the Tower Cinema,
Launceston and I applied for the Regal job after just 6 months.
Mr. Arthur Long, was the manager and I started employment at
the princely wage of £4.10s per week for about 55 hours work.
In the projection box we had two excellent BTH Mark 1 projectors,
which rarely gave any trouble. Part of my job entailed ‘spooling
on and off’ the film which did not arrive on metal reels.
Each join had to be inspected and a picture
of ‘yours truly’ is shown rewinding a 35mm film.
Admission prices were 9d, 1s.6d, and 2s.3d when I first arrived
at the Regal. The most popular films I showed at the cinema were,
A Queen Is Crowned, Genevieve, Doctor In The House and
Knights of the Round Table, which was filmed at Tintagel.
My work also meant that I had to check the seating, car park, put
up the large poster outside and even deliver and glue, all the
small posters in every village!!. Oh and I also had to check
the toilets!!!. And take bookings over the phone and etc., etc!!
I loved the cinema work but decided to leave and in 1958 joined
Bush Radio Ltd at Ernesettle in Plymouth. Ray Neilson, who used
to have a shop in Tintagel in the war years, got me a job in the
laboratories and I was employed in the development of tuners
for television. In 1960 I founded my own television business
at Tintagel, which closed at the end of July 2001.
The cinema was sadly burnt to the ground in 1970.
I am sure if it had survived, today it would have been a
very important part of the entertainment scene in this area.
A tragedy.”
David Flower. Chief Projectionist at the Regal in the 1950's
The Show Begins.
Reel rewind.
The two stills above were taken from a roll of 35mm movie film
found in the projection box at the Regal Cinema in the 1950s.
The advert was for my father's business he had at Tintagel,
a Greengrocer/Bakery, & today it is the Fresh & Local Shop.
BTH Super Mark One Projector (50s).
Does anyone remember the advert run at the Regal Cinema,
Delabole, during the 1940s?
The photographs associated with this article were taken by David Flower
and are copyright and can not be used without permission of the owner.
The Regal Cinema in Atlantic Road, Delabole, opened on
the 30th December 1930. The cinema had 230 seats but
no balcony & was owned by Cornwall Cinemas (Newquay).
It had it's own large car park & served a wide local area.
During the 1930s for a short time the cinema was called the
Picturedrome but reverted back to the Regal later.
The cinema was taken over by Regal (Delabole) Ltd and
was owned by George Graver, who already had the
Picture House, Bude.
In it's final years it was purchased by Arthur Long, who
managed it along with his wife on the Pay desk and his
son Ron as projectionist.
Arthur asked the District Council to subsidise the Cinema
but they refused to help so the death knell for the
dear Regal sounded.
It was closed in the 1960s & sadly burnt to the ground in
1969 & this treasured cinema was lost to the area.
The Regal is No More.
Photos Courtesy David Stacey
The fire bells went down at 3.12 a.m. on
Sunday 2nd November 1969, for the Regal fire.
You may wonder how I know these details,
well the answer to that is I was driving the second
fire vehicle, and the smoke was hell when we got
to the top of Pengelly. It was a job the see the
entrance to Atlantic road & I had to go up past the
Cinema to a hydrant in the far council house garden,
which was fireman Tommy Collins house.
Sparks from the fire caught Charlie Cory's workshop
on fire with all his paint burning fiercely.
A cup of tea was given to all the men by
Mrs.Winnie Lush who stills lives in the
same house today in 2010.
Words by David Stacey
Tower Cinema, Launceston
Copyright © David Flower 2000-2017
Disclaimer: No part of this website may be reproduced, stored
on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the written consent of tintagelweb.co.uk
(David Flower). You may however, download on to a personal
computer owned or controlled by yourself and you may make a
single copy of any part of this publication, for your private use
or study.
Tintagelweb, nor it's affiliates, are not liable for any direct,
indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of
information or material contained in the site or from your
access to the web sites of customers or other material on the
internet obtained via links from this site.
Kestrel 2017
TINTAGEL - KING ARTHUR COUNTRY
STORIES OLD & NEW
REGAL CINEMA, DELABOLE 1958
Regal Cinema Closed.
Before The Show Starts.
HAVE YOU ANY PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE REGAL?
Thanks to Mike Davey
“Many people may not realise that a super small cinema with
230 seats, once existed at Atlantic Road, Delabole. Films were
changed twice weekly back in the 1950s when I was the chief
projectionist. We used to have an evening performance at
7.30pm and a matinee at 5pm on Saturdays. There was a
children’s matinee on Saturday mornings and in the summer,
if wet, we held an afternoon show.
My own early memories of ‘The Regal’ was in the 1940s and
my mother and two sisters often walked from Tintagel to Delabole
to ‘go to the pictures’. After the show we would often purchase
some fish and chips from a small shop at the top of Medrose Street.
During the time I was employed at the Regal the cinema would be
busy most evenings and particularly on Wednesday and Friday
nights when Fry’s Coaches arrived. There were also buses from
Port Isaac and Camelford (Tags Hayne’s).
In 1952 I was a so called 'Rewind Boy’ at the Tower Cinema,
Launceston and I applied for the Regal job after just 6 months.
Mr. Arthur Long, was the manager and I started employment at
the princely wage of £4.10s per week for about 55 hours work.
In the projection box we had two excellent BTH Mark 1 projectors,
which rarely gave any trouble. Part of my job entailed ‘spooling
on and off’ the film which did not arrive on metal reels.
Each join had to be inspected and a picture
of ‘yours truly’ is shown rewinding a 35mm film.
Admission prices were 9d, 1s.6d, and 2s.3d when I first arrived
at the Regal. The most popular films I showed at the cinema were,
A Queen Is Crowned, Genevieve, Doctor In The House and
Knights of the Round Table, which was filmed at Tintagel.
My work also meant that I had to check the seating, car park, put
up the large poster outside and even deliver and glue, all the
small posters in every village!!. Oh and I also had to check
the toilets!!!. And take bookings over the phone and etc., etc!!
I loved the cinema work but decided to leave and in 1958 joined
Bush Radio Ltd at Ernesettle in Plymouth. Ray Neilson, who used
to have a shop in Tintagel in the war years, got me a job in the
laboratories and I was employed in the development of tuners
for television. In 1960 I founded my own television business
at Tintagel, which closed at the end of July 2001.
The cinema was sadly burnt to the ground in 1970.
I am sure if it had survived, today it would have been a very
important part of the entertainment scene in this area.
A tragedy.”
David Flower. Chief Projectionist at the Regal in the 1950's
The Show Begins.
Reel rewind.
The two stills above were taken from a roll of 35mm movie film
found in the projection box at the Regal Cinema in the 1950s.
The advert was for my father's business he had at Tintagel,
a Greengrocer/Bakery, & today it is the Fresh & Local Shop.
BTH Super Mark One Projector (50s).
Does anyone remember the advert run at the Regal Cinema,
Delabole, during the 1940s?
The photographs associated with this article were taken by David Flower
and are copyright and can not be used without permission of the owner.
The Regal Cinema in Atlantic Road, Delabole, opened on
the 30th December 1930. The cinema had 230 seats but
no balcony & was owned by Cornwall Cinemas (Newquay).
It had it's own large car park & served a wide local area.
During the 1930s for a short time the cinema was called the
Picturedrome but reverted back to the Regal later.
The cinema was taken over by Regal (Delabole) Ltd and
was owned by George Graver, who already had the
Picture House, Bude.
In it's final years it was purchased by Arthur Long, who
managed it along with his wife on the Pay desk and his
son Ron as projectionist.
Arthur asked the District Council to subsidise the Cinema
but they refused to help so the death knell for the
dear Regal sounded.
It was closed in the 1960s & sadly burnt to the ground in
1969 & this treasured cinema was lost to the area.
The Regal is No More.
Photos Courtesy David Stacey
The fire bells went down at 3.12 a.m. on
Sunday 2nd November 1969, for the Regal fire.
You may wonder how I know these details,
well the answer to that is I was driving the second
fire vehicle, and the smoke was hell when we got
to the top of Pengelly. It was a job the see the
entrance to Atlantic road & I had to go up past the
Cinema to a hydrant in the far council house garden,
which was fireman Tommy Collins house.
Sparks from the fire caught Charlie Cory's workshop
on fire with all his paint burning fiercely.
A cup of tea was given to all the men by
Mrs.Winnie Lush who stills lives in the
same house today in 2010.
Words by David Stacey
Tower Cinema, Launceston
