A reader writes:
I went to Millfields [school] back in the '50s and my brother did too during the war years. On their website I also saw your blog, which led me to your Clapton Pond blogsite. It's interesting what you can find on line. We used to live in Powell Road behind what used to be the Ritz cinema. My brother was back in England earlier this year and found the cinema's no longer there. I now live in California and my brother lives in Ottawa, Canada but I remember growing up in Clapton and I remember the Pond. From pictures I've seen it looks like it's been cleaned up. My brother actually fell in the Pond when he was a kid!
Thanks for such a lovely letter. And should you - or anyone else - wish to revive the former Ritz cinema*, you could start by signing here.
UPDATE: But it wasn't the Ritz, was it, Dave? It was the Kenning Hall. Sign up anyway, though.
As the Secretary of the Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre, I was very interested to read the memories of your reader from California who lived in Powell Road in their youth. They are indeed correct that the 1,884 seater Ritz Cinema built in 1939 was demolished and on this site now stands the block of flats next to St James's Church. However, the original Clapton Cinematograph Theatre, later renamed the Kenninghall Cinema and which is located on the other side of the Church, still survives, and the building will celebrate its centenary in 2010.
The building was converted to night club use in the 1980s but still retains much of its original structure, including a decorated barrel vaulted roof and part of the 1910 facade bearing the monogram of its original name "CCT".
The building is now up for sale and the campaign for the restoration of the cinema,which the Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre are spearheading in conjunction with the Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group and the Clapton Conservation Areas Advisory Committee,is working hard to ensure the preservation of this important part of Hackney's heritage so that it can once again play its part in the cultural life of the borough. More information can be obtained on the Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre website, www.saveourcinema.org, where supporters can sign up to the campaign petition.
Julia Lafferty
Posted by: Julia Lafferty | July 29, 2009 at 08:51 PM
Some more info...
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/14525/
Posted by: Glyn | August 04, 2009 at 12:42 PM