A look back at Amersham's lost cinema

In Amersham-on-the-Hill, 59 years ago this week, 100s of people could be seen queueing down Sycamore Road. They were waiting in line for the Regent box office to buy tickets for the Audrey Hepburn film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Although a popular movie, the high demand for tickets was because the final show, on Saturday 10 March 1962, was to be the last ever screening at the cinema and everyone in the town wanted to be there.

The fate of the cinema had been sealed the previous year when Amersham Council sanctioned the application by British Land for its change of use. The owners of the Regent, Shipman & King, held only a lease on the premises and this had now expired.

The handsome building was demolished soon after and replaced by the Maypole supermarket in a particularly uninspiring development.

The Fight is Lost
Audiences had been dwindling at the cinema mainly because of the competition from television and the Embassy in Chesham, which although also part of the Shipman & King circuit, usually showed the latest films at least a week before the Regent.

However, there was a lot of affection for the cinema in the town and a petition to save it was presented to the council soon after the closure was announced.

A last-minute reprieve seemed possible when the international theatre director and writer, Basil Ashmore, who lived at Far Corner, Stubbs Wood, campaigned to acquire the Regent for a live professional theatre. Ultimately his campaign failed despite financial backing and influential supporters.

In order to replace the cinema with a supermarket, approval had to be sought from the Minister for Housing and Local Government, as the Town Map showed the site as a place of entertainment.

Sadly, the change of use was granted by the minister, Dr Charles Hill, who did not even have the courtesy to reply to Ashmore’s correspondence. Although Hill lost his job a few months later, in Harold MacMillan’s ‘Night of the Long Knives’ reshuffle, it was too late for the Regent and for Amersham.

The first cinema

In 1922 the musician and composer Walter Roland Croft, known professionally as Walter R Collins, from White Cottage in Bois Lane, opened a small cinema, the Pavilion, where Amersham Auction Rooms is today (See Nostalgia January 24, 2020).

The cinema had 150 seats and showed silent movies with a piano and percussion accompaniment. Collins’ wife, Florence, ran a busy café in the basement and it was a success.

Towards the end of 1927, Collins felt that a much larger cinema could be profitably run in Amersham and bought a piece of land on Sycamore Road with the idea of building there. This was a bold and visionary investment with no guarantee of success.

The Regent

In March 1928, with local builder, Alfred Woodley, Collins established Colwood Pictures and Theatres Ltd.

The architect F C Mitchell was commissioned to design a modern art deco style picture palace which was completed just 8 months later.

The majestic cinema had everything the modern audience desired - glitz, glamour, and spectacle. It could seat 700 people, had an orchestra pit and a 30 ft deep stage for theatrical productions.

The opening film, which was shown Monday 3 December 1928, was the British silent movie, The Huntingtower, filmed at Cricklewood Studios and starring the Scottish comedian, Sir Harry Lauder.

The following month there was Ivor Novello in The Constant Nymph and Jacqueline Logan in an American silent horror film, The Leopard Lady.

The stage was also used for theatrical productions and concerts. In 1930 Jack Warner (later famous as Dixon of Dock Green) starred in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, performed by the Cestreham Players.

That year Colwood Pictures invested in a sound system. One of the first “100% Talkie Productions” shown was High Treason, a science fiction drama set in a futuristic America.

In the first year of operating, the Regent declared a healthy profit but the relationship between the two directors was soon in serious difficulties and ended after an acrimonious court case.

Collins went on to have a successful career composing light entertainment dance music and conducting. For the last 20 years of his life, he was the musical director at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-sea.

Shipman & King

In early 1931 Shipman & King bought the Sycamore Road lease and added the Regent to their growing circuit of cinemas. In 1937 they built the Embassy in Chesham and in 1938 the Rex in Berkhamsted, which is one of only four surviving Shipman & King cinemas.

In Amersham they introduced a Western Electric sound system in their first year, and in 1935, a wide screen.

Until its closure in 1962 the cinema was central to life in Amersham with Rememberance Services, Royal Wedding screenings and Gala fundraising concerts held there.

Most families knew someone who worked at the Regent, in the box office, in the chocolate kiosk, or as an usherette, projectionist or cleaner. In 1955 visitors were treated to an exhibition of Dirk Bogarde’s suits in the foyer.

Made by local tailors, Nancarrow and Temple the suits and uniforms on display had featured in the film Doctor at Sea. The film star and heart throb, Dirk Bogarde was one of the most famous British actors at the time.

He was of particular interest in the town as he was living locally and had just bought Beel House in Little Chalfont.

A longer version of this article can be found at amershammuseum.org. Please contact us if you have further information or memories of Amersham’s lost cinema, particularly if you can remember the colour of the interior or the staff uniforms, which we believe were dark red.