Three Of Four

The third of Ilkeston's four palaces of entertainment of my youth (there were more before that!) was the King's Picture House on Bath Street. With a reputation of being the most luxurious of Ilkeston's cinemas, the King's had been built in 1915, a year after the visit to the town by King George V and Queen Mary to open the Ilkeston County Secondary School.


Similar to the Ritz and the Scala, it was architecturally impressive outside and had a faïence-clad façade designed by local architect H. Tatham Sudbury but suffered under the demolisher's hammer in 1964 to be replaced later by the rather nondescript frontages of these shops as part of the Albion Centre Development. Whilst change must always go on, it is a disappointing fact of life that gems like the King's are lost in the name of progress. The replacement buildings are probably best seen as in this picture in the semi darkness. I'm not sure they would win any prizes for design or appearance.