Cannon

The Regal, later the ABC, then the Cannon was the last cinema to be opened in Gloucester, after a 16-year delay.

Construction work began in Kings Square in 1939 but was halted by the outbreak of war. When restrictions were lifted in 1955 the plans were updated to include a stage and dressing rooms as well as all the latest technical equipment. Thus the city would have a theatre again, its first since the Hippodrome had closed in 1930. With 1,468 seats and a curved fibrous plaster screen it was opened in 1956 by Janette Scott, star of 'Now and Forever', that night's film. Later that year Danny la Rue made his pantomime debut playing one of the ugly sisters in onstage in Cinderella.

In 1960 the large waiting area was converted into a Wimpy Bar, and in 1963 the cinema was brought into line with the rest of the chain and renamed the ABC. By this time stage shows were mainly pop concerts and the GODS' annual musical.

In 1974 the ABC was converted to three smaller cinemas by EMI, who now owned the building. It became the Cannon in 1988, but when a new multiplex cinema was built beyond the Docks it closed and after many years of standing empty was bought by JD Wetherspoon and refitted as the Regal pub. Where the screen used to be is now a vast area of glass overlooking a courtyard garden, and from the former balcony a stuffed King Kong looms over the drinkers below.