Memories of Seeing Stars at the Savoy
The end is nigh for the Savoy in Broad Green as the bulldozers prepare to demolish the 1930s cinema to make way for a new housing development.
The cinema, which used to play to sell out crowds, has lain empty for two years. Workmen moved on to the site last week to flatten the building and replace it with 138 flats.
Planning permission for the scheme was granted in 2003 when the doors closed for the final time on the cinema -now called the Safari. But it was as the Savoy that the cinema really made its name.
The Savoy opened in London Road in March 1936. It was a low key opening, as it was the policy of the ABC chain, which owned the cinema.
Despite being on the edge of the town, I the cinema was one of the most successful in Croydon. It could seat up to 2,276 , people and was second only in size to the Davis Theatre.
Thornton Heath resident Wally Plummer regularly went to the Savoy and recalls one of his first visits as a 15-year-old boy to watch Yolta Korda's 1939 version of The Four Feathers.
He said: "I saw it in the middle of an air I raid. The announcement would flash up I on the big screen that an air raid was in progress and the programme would continue.
"What with the noise of the Sudan uprising of the 1890s on screen and the real-life gun fire outside the building, it was like stereophonic sound.
"The Savoy was a great entertainment venue and the queues in those days were unbelievable.
I went to the Savoy many times over the years. Even when I joined the army and was stationed at Dover, I managed to get weekends off to visit Croydon cinemas."
An electrical fault is believed to have sparked a fire which engulfed the auditorium in March 1953.
More than 100 firefighters fought to control the blaze and, although they saved the entrance hall and foyers of the cinema, the auditorium and stage area were totally destroyed. The Savoy remained closed until December 27,1953, for restoration work.
It reopened briefly but closed again in July 1958 while the auditorium was reconstructed. When it reopened in October that year it had a new name - ABC.
With the demise of the Davis Theatre, ABC put on live shows featuring stars including Cliff Richard, Gene Pitney, the Everly Brothers and The Beatles, who were fourth on the bill.
By the 1970s, the cinema was too large for modern requirements. It closed in 1972 and was converted into three smaller screens.
The Cannon group acquired the ABC chain in 1986. The cinema later became known as the Safari.