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The Abbey cinema was designed by Alfred Ernest Shennan
a respected Liverpool Architect who later became
Alderman of the city of Liverpool. His portfolio of local
cinemas included the Forum (ABC) Lime St, The Plaza
Allerton, Mayfair Aigburth and The Curzon Old Swan.
The Abbey first opened on the 4th of August 1939
with the screening of "Joy of Living". Four years later the ownership changed hands from "The Regal cinema Company" to become the jewel in the crown of the Bedford Cinema chain, headed by local cinema pioneer John F Wood, the owner/operator of Liverpool’s first purpose built cinema the Bedford cinema, Bedford Rd Walton (1908).A company always at the forefront of the latest cinema technology soon presented films in Cinemascope, 3d, stereoscopic sound and 70mm on the screen of Wavertree`s Abbey cinema.
However the Abbeys most important cinematic event took place on the 18th of March 1964 when after a brief closure for extensive refurbishment costing nearly £100,000, the Abbey reopened with a spectacular film format called Cinerama .The opening film aptly titled “this is Cinerama” was soon to have the Merseyside public queuing at the cinema`s doors like everyday was opening day at Primark.
Without describing the technical side of Cinerama in any
great depth, The end result provided the cinema going public with a gigantic curved screen which was one of the biggest if not The biggest screen per square foot in the UK with a razor sharp picture definition, complimented by a seven channel surround sound system and an abundance of loud speakers, arguably a system as good as any modern day digital or Imax presentation seen today. If that wasn’t enough to wet the appetite, the Abbey also became the first cinema in Liverpool to have a licensed bar.
The original 35mm (three lens) Cinerama format was however short lived, primarily due to the expense and complication of producing and projecting movies using three individual cameras and projectors. Less than twelve months after “three strip” cinerama was first introduced to the Merseyside public, the Abbey changed to single lens 70mm Cinerama and similar 70mm formats sharing the same giant Cinerama screen. To the purist the only noticeable difference being a slight loss of picture definition at the extreme edges of the curved screen.
The first film presented on the Abbey’s giant screen in the re-marketed single lens 70mm Cinerama format was "Its a
mad mad mad mad world”, screened on the 15th of April 1965. Although the Abbey still regularly booked 35mm release films, Their box office takings were on average 30-40% higher with films shown on the giant screen. With this in mind during the years after 1965 the Abbey continued to press the film distributors for more of the same giant screen blockbusters movie. As the years passed the lack of 70mm product and the total demise of Cinerama in 1971 made this increasingly harder to achieve
Despite this handicap, throughout its remaining lifetime the Abbey cinema still managed to provide its Giant screen hungry patrons with a regular feast of current 70mm blockbuster movies, including new releases such as The Towering inferno, Earthquake, The Poseidon adventure, Close Encounters of the Third kind, 2001 A Space Odyssey A Star is Born, Oliver Papillion and much more. If there was ever a shortage of current 70mm product they
could depend upon the ever popular timeless classics
with reruns of Gone with the wind, Lawrence of Arabia,
The Ten Commandments, Ben hur, Dr Zhivago, South pacific and many other old favorites.
By the mid 70`s Bedford cinemas Ltd had closed all of its other cinemas on Merseyside and continued under the company name "The Abbey Cinema Ltd" (reg No383978), 19 Castle St Liverpool L2. Despite having a reputation as one of the best loved cinemas on Merseyside the Abbey was finding it increasingly difficult to remain open due to the increased overheads and fuel costs associated with running a building of such a large size at a time when uk cinema attendance were still continuing to fall.
 In 1978 the American company Cinerama Ltd went into receivership. All binding agreements made back in 1964 with the Abbey Cinema Ltd finally ceased and shortly after on the 25th of November 1978 The Abbey cinema’s managing director Tony Wood gave formal notice to all employee’s that the Abbey would close on the 25th February 1979. With strong public uproar to the impending closure supported by City councilor Cyril Carr and other Liverpool city council members there followed two successful short lived stays of execution.
 The Supermarket chain Lennons eventually won the day and the Abbey cinema finally closed on the first Saturday of August 1979, Receiving a standing ovation from a near capacity audience after the final performance of the most successful film in the Abbey Cinerama`s 40 year history "The Towering Inferno".
Now more than 25yrs since the Abbey closed its doors, Liverpool cinema audience’s have yet to experience a film on a screen which can truly be described as being “Giant”. Those who still remember the Abbey are left with nothing more than a distant memory of how spectacular later films such as Star Wars, Titanic, Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, A Nightmare before Christmas 3d and the latest Indiana Jones blockbuster would have looked if The Abbey’s giant screen had somehow survived into the exciting new generation of 3D digital super cinemas.
© 2008 all rights reserved www.wooltoncinema.co.uk
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