Hidden and decaying above an amusement arcade In Batley, West Yorkshire is the former Regent Picture House.
With these words a breathtaking photo series of the rotting Cinema is presented on Flickr by photographer “Richboxfrenzy”.
Batley News reported exclusively in 2007
Plans to revive the old cinema as outlined by the Batley News as far ago as 2007 appear not to have been realised, as the state of the cinema apparently hasn’t changed since then, at least not for the better. Indeed, according to some reports, the ceiling has been replaced with a higher false ceiling and some of the remaining seats seem to also have been sold off.
The plans included the complete renovation of the cinema as a nostalgic picture house as well as turning other parts of the building into a winebar and a souk. In the article published by the Batley News Barry Ellis, director of the investor, complains that his projects had been hampered by “planning rejections and delays from the council”.
Mr Ellis, who once worked in the old Regent as a projectionist, planned to recreate part of the cinema to show old classics like Charlie Chaplin.
But the prospective investor, NBE Holdings Limited, Leeds, was dissolved in 2011 according to companycheck.co.uk. And as todays owner apparently lives in Warwickshire, a long way from the cinema, it makes the future for the picture house appear very uncertain at best.
The old projector is still in place
an old spool from the cinema
Inside the old cinema
The cinema building
The last time the Regent Picture House showed films was as an Asian Cinema. It is reported that the spool that is still on the projector today is of an Indian movie.
After Batley has lost so much of its heritage over the last years, it would be a real pity if this cinema were also to be lost.
All picture on this page with kind permission of Richboxfrenzy
Other sources: The Batley News, Company Check
Ian Beckwith
Hi David, just spotted this post from 2014, really interesting and wondered if since this was written you have come across any further information. We are trying to find the current owner of the building, which is pretty difficult to say the least. We live in Normanton West Yorkshire but are originally from Batley and have some businesses based in Batley. We are on the look out to find a new home for local productions now the Frontier has closed. A big project but…. 🙂 Thank s in advance if you post back. Best Ian
David
Hi Ian, thanks for your Feedback. I personally haven’t any further information on the cinema. It was very difficult to gleam anything from the Internet, inofs seem very scarce. You might like to try the “Batley Photos new and old” group on Facebook. They might have something. Cheers, Dave!