These fabulous photos from our archive show the interior and exterior of one of Leicester’s many cinemas.

This is the Regal, which was located in Havelock Street and operated in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.

The single screen cinema, which had a seating capacity of just over 1,000, opened in 1936 with The Littlest Rebel, starring Shirley Temple, and Edward Everett Horton in Your Uncle Dudley.

Seating was arranged in stalls and circles and there was a stage and dressing rooms, which also allowed the venue to also be used for concerts and drama productions.

As with many independently operated cinemas at that time, it suffered from a fall in audiences brought on by the mass introduction of TV in the 1950s.

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A view of the screen and auditorium at the Regal Cinema, Havelock Street, Leicester, in about 1959
A view of the screen and auditorium at the Regal Cinema, Havelock Street, Leicester, in about 1959

It showed its final film, The Lady is a Square, with Frankie Vaughan, in May 1959.

A rather funky carpet inside the Regal Cinema, Havelock Street, Leicester
A rather funky carpet inside the Regal Cinema, Havelock Street, Leicester

It was sold and converted into industrial use but was later demolished and the site is now used as a car park.