Bridge Crecent, St. Margaret's Mission Church

Bridge Crecent, St. Margaret's Mission Church

HER Number
12873
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Bridge Crecent, St. Margaret's Mission Church
Place
Scotswood
Map Sheet
NZ16SE
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Place of Worship
Site Type: Specific
Mission Church
General Period
20TH CENTURY
Specific Period
Early 20th Century 1901 to 1932
Form of Evidence
Demolished Building
Description
In March 1926 architect F.M. Dryden submitted plans for the conversion of St. Margaret's Mission Church to a cinema. It had latterly been a Labour Exchange and a Scout Headquarters. It was a corrugated iron building. The interior was 62 feet x 24 feet with a small stage at one end. The walls were of varnished pitch pine - a potential fire hazard. The cinema was licenced for 290 seats and no standing was allowed. The owner was John Richard Scott, who had formed the Scotswood Cinema Co. Ltd. In February 1926 with Thomas Charlton, of the Picture Theatre, Lemington. Free admission could be gained with clean jam-jars, which were sold to a jam factory along Scotswood Road. In May 1938 architect Robert Burke drew up plans for a larger cinema with 536 seats. The Regent opened in December 1938. In 1952 J.R. Scott retired and the cinema was taken over by Carter Crowe, cinema equipment supplier. The Regent closed on 6 July 1957. It became a bingo hall and a rock club. It was demolished in 1964 for the approach roads to the new Scotswood Bridge.
Easting
419940
Northing
563810
Grid Reference
NZ419940563810
Sources
Frank Manders, 1991, Cinemas of Newcastle, page 149; Terry Quin, 1991, Bygone Scotswood