The 1980s were a difficult decade for British cinemas, with many finally falling victim to the ongoing competition from television and the recent arrival of home video players.
Forty years ago, sadly, it was time for the last picture show at yet another one-time favourite cinema, the Wallaw in Ashington. The picture hall was one of a string with the same name that had sprung up in South East Northumberland in the early decades of the last century.
Named after owner Walter Lawson (by combining his first and last names) there were popular Wallaw cinemas in Blyth, Newbiggin, Bedlington and here in Ashington. This one could trace its roots back to 1912 when it could seat 450 patrons who flocked there to watch the new silent movies.
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After the end of World War I, it was rebuilt and more than doubled in size, changing its name from the Wallaw Picture Palace to Picture House. In 1943 it became the Wallaw Cinema.
The post-World War II years marked cinema's golden age. It was a time when nearly every North East town had a thriving cinema, often more than one. Regular trips to the pictures were a way of life for most, providing entertainment and escapism. For many, it was also a place that, relatively inexpensively, provided a few hours’ welcome warmth and comfort away from the privations of daily life.
Ashington had over time supported five cinemas. The Wallaw on Woodhorn Road closed for the last time at the end of July 1982. The final film shown there was Annie, the American musical comedy drama starring Albert Finney and Carol Burnett. The building's later uses included a shop and amusement arcade.
Our main photographs shows children waiting outside the venue behind manageress Jean Herron, while our second image also shows projectionist Denis Cleuogh who had worked at the Wallaw since 1957.
The Chronicle reported: "Denis has seen the changes from the days when six or seven hundred people would throng into the stalls and the circle, to the present days of half-empty seats when only the best-publicised movies can pack them in.
"There have been wholesome comedy romances, sophisticated thrillers, naughty comedies, and space-age blockbusters, as well as a recent crop of unpleasant violent films. Denis thinks the days of cinema have been numbered since the war - and since all those wonderful Pathe news reels ended.
"He says 'We are going out in style with Annie. It has been my job for a long time. I really don't know how I'll feel when the place closes'."
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