Now as I only have the sparsest (is sparsest a word?) of details of the full history of the Plaza, for now, it will be less than a potted history, mostly gleaned from what I know / remember, and also pinched from the Plaza's own page. But in time, it will fill out and hopefully be a worthy read.
The Plaza, (and including all its forerunners ), has been with us since 1939; a very untimely year to start an entertainment venue, but, they were not to know. I am not sure what is was called then, this will be verified in a later revision of the page, my guess, is, it was an Odeon. I have the vaguest memories of it being this, and I even think it may have still been called this when I went to see my first 'grown up' film there, 'Diamonds are Forever' in 1972. I definitely remember it being called the Classic a little later on and it seemed to stay the Classic for some time, and a further reincarnation was the Cannon Cinema, but, I willingy hold my hands up and admit it is all fuzzy in my mind, but, time will reveal all.
One thing it definitely is, is a survivor. Waterloo had a few cinemas, but one by one they closed down or were taken over by Bingo halls. Even Crosby itself had its own cinema, the Regent, which I used to go to, too, on Saturday mornings with my good friend, Ken Tartt, (to watch those serials where the previous week the goody in his car very definitely went over the side of the cliff only for car and driver to be safe and sound by the next Saturday, but, that closed down too, but with the advent of the much missed C1 ('Yer wha', lad ? - yep, C1, circa 70 onwards, for a short while, anyway) and the even more infamous C2, the Classic was within easy reach for those in Thornton and dotted around the Borough. In the final analysis as it were, I think what really 'did' for it, or at least started the process of commmercial decline, was super / multi-screen cinemas which started to open up in the 70s; better sound, better seating, more choice, with the Odeon on London Road springing to mind. But, it was just as much the lack of modernisation at the Classic etc, which saw its eventual closure as a truly private enterprise. It's ok adding more screens as the Plaza and previous lives have / did so, to try and compete, but if the seats make your backside feel like a sack of spuds that has been dropped from a great height onto a sheet of concrete, then it's no fun. Add to that the very bad sound, (to this day, I swore the fellas in that epic stood up and shouted 'I've farted' instead of 'I'm Spartacus'), and it is no wonder that people started drifting off to the Odeon in town, at first, then, to Switch Island (for locals), or Edge Lane for more central Liverpool folks.
Ok, fast forward a few years. It closed, sort of, then reopened as a community run cinema and general amenity, but, the 64,000 Dollar Question: - is it safe from closing down for good? Sadly, no, far far from it. Two things still stand from all those years ago: poor sound and still arse-numbing ( and cramped to boot ) seating. I went to a showing of the first film under the new set up, Jurassic Park, and I knew that as much as a lick of paint and polite smartly dressed volunteers was very welcome, the acid test was how my backside felt after 30 minutes and whether I could work out if Richard Attenborough was saying 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' or 'My Aunt's Thesaurus is hexed'. Sadly, the latter appeared to stay in my brain for some time.
And so, what now? All I can report is, the Emcee at last night's Billy and Wally show seemed to infer that some funding had been denied and the place was yet again under some sort of threat, which is sad, very sad; but, if somehow the seating and sound can be modernised, then it has a chance, although a somewhat slim chance. Let's hope the outsider bags the race on this occasion.
And to finish, here is the link to the Plaza's own site.
The Plaza's own website
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