Curtain is up again at historic cinema
Now 1920s venue all set for another 100 years after surviving fire, changing habits and the pandemic...
WALKING through the auditorium of the Savoy Cinema in Heaton Moor, you are instantly transformed back to the glitz of the roaring 1920s.
While the cinema has been vastly revamped almost 100 years on from when it was first built, the venue still pays homage to its glamorous past.
The one-screen cinema still boasts its original Baroque design, while the interior remains faithful to its cosy art deco roots.
To some, the fact that the one-screen cinema still remains open today is a feat in itself.
The building was partially destroyed by a fire in the 1930s, has been taken over by numerous cinema chains over the years and faced changing habits brought upon by the likes of Netflix.
But, in the last year alone, the cinema has faced one of its biggest challenges to date: the pandemic.
Having been shut since the start of the lockdown, the Savoy Cinema reopened for the first time in over a year last week – and it seems that everyone is ready for a trip back to the cinema.
Since 2015, the independent 180-seat cinema has been operated by the Mundin family, originally from Belper in Derbyshire.
When the Savoy went up for sale, it was originally speculated that the building would be turned into a pub or flats.
But residents in the area refused to let the ‘muchloved’ cinema go down without a fight and formed the Savoy Arts Group.
The group was able to help the building receive Asset of Community Value status and ensured it remained as a local cinema. That’s when Louis and his family came in.
“We renovated absolutely everything,” Louis Mundin, who runs the Savoy alongside wife Sophie, says. “There were 440 seats when we got it, and we ripped all of those out.
“We kept the original cast iron stanchion seats which still have the original art deco feel but we now have 180 seats which are much wider and have extra leg room.”
Also upgraded for the digital era, the cinema reopened to the public in October 2015.
Thankfully, the muchloved nature of the building has kept it a success ever since.
“It’s been going really, really well,” Louis, 28, says.
“We’ve been open more than five years now and there’s been a load of new restaurants and bars opening up nearby just because the night time economy here has been boosted.”
But, the fact that the cinema only has one screen has come with its own set of challenges – such as choosing what films will be most popular with audiences.
“We pride ourselves, and are renowned, for our varied programmes,” Louis explains.
“We will show everything from blockbusters to National Theatre shows.
“With distributors, they often have quite specific requirements for the opening week of a big film, such as Star Wars or James Bond.
“They will require cinemas to show it a certain amount of times a day on a certain number of screens.
“So, we try to be a second-run cinema where we can show different films slightly off-date.
“For instance, Black Widow is out this week but we’ll screen it two or three weeks after opening week so that we can have a bit of flexibility to play other things that are more for our core audience.”
On Monday nights, the cinema hosts a ‘Savoy Arts’ night – named after the community group – which will show something ‘maybe more challenging’ like a niche documentary or foreign film.
It also has baby-friendly and ‘Silver Screen’ screenings for over-60s.
During lockdown, staff at the cinema became Dementia Friends and are also adding dementiafriendly screenings to its schedules.
Next week, the cinema will host a dementiafriendly screening of ‘Singin’ In The Rain.’
Louis explains: “The lights are slightly up, the volume is slightly down, and people can bring carers for free.
“There’s extra signage, more staff, and there’s no judgment if people need to talk – it’s just a little more of a relaxed experience.”
In fact, the screening has also received attention from Hollywood.
“Gene Kelly’s wife emailed us last week from LA to say how happy Gene would have been to have seen his film shown in such a way,” Louis said. “She said someone basically sent her photo of us becoming Dementia Friends and she just said it was amazing.
“It was a really lengthy message about how we had her support and how much she appreciated it.”
The cinema has also set up an initiative where people can ‘pay it forward’ and buy a cinema ticket for NHS staff.
Little things like that have made the independent cinema something that’s so important to the local community.
“A local cinema in a community just feels like a hub and feels like a place that people want to support,” Louis says.
“We always try to do things that give back. They won’t necessarily make us money but it’s not about that, it’s about supporting one another.
During the lockdown, it’s that local support that helped the Savoy cinema too.
“The Cultural Recovery fund really saved us and helped us to tread water until we were able to reopen,” Louis says.
“But we received a lot of support from people in the area during that time too.
“Someone round here organised a Halloween trail for us where everyone dressed their houses up as scenes from Halloween films.
“It was really incredible, there must have been 150 houses or something involved, and they raised £9,000.
“It’s been wonderful to see how much support there is and how important the cinema is to people.”