Portsmouth cinema came to aid of bombed out families | Nostalgia

It changed its name to the Rex in 1937 and was closed during the Second World War and used as a furniture deposit store for people who had been bombed out in the blitz.

After the war the cinema reopened and had a change name to the Rex Continental.

The décor of the cosy auditorium was interesting. The ceiling was in duck egg blue, with red painted stars, the walls in pastel shades of green, yellow and pink.

Wall lights were of the drum-type shades in a metal frame. Those on the front of the circle, three in total, had fan-style glass shades.

The circle was only six rows wide with seats in olive green and a dark red pattern carpet. Emergency lights were gas mantles under bell-shaped glass shades.

There was a emergency exit located on the left side, half way in the stalls, and the sign was lit red, rather than the usual green.

In 1968 the cinema had a makeover outside and in.

The outside had a mosaic panel frontage, with new glass entrance doors, and a lit sign on which the letters of films showing were fixed.

The auditorium had new wall lights, the stage radically altered and the walls fabric covered. It also passed to two new owners, the Tatler cinema club and lastly the New Classic.

The cinema closed in 1973 and became after a long absence, a shoot-pool-and-drink bar. This lasted until 1996 when the building closed forever, and was demolished. Shoot Pool flats now stand on the site.

•Trying to date the photograph of Commercial Road was a problem, but I reckon it’s the late 1960s or early ’70s.

In my 1962 Kelly’s, Craswell Street is mentioned and then what was later Hardy’s was then Phillips and Bevan ‘house furnishers’.

By 1971 the junction of Craswell Street had been pedestrianised and Phillips had become Hardys Furniture Centre.

It looks as though it was a fine summer’s day with summer clothes to the fore, except the elderly women who always wore coats even on the warmest of days.

I think the car is a Zephyr Six but stand to be corrected, as I always am by readers who are fans of vintage cars. It had lovely bench seating where a good sleep could be had, unlike today’s single-seater motors with a gear lever stuck in the middle unlike the Zephyr’s column change.

• On July 22, 1941, the young exiled King Peter of Yugoslavia visited Portsmouth and HMS Victory. Admiral James said he was a rather delicate-looking young man but intelligent and eager.