The Regal Cinema

I used to walk past here on the way to school every day. We always knew exactly what was showing at any given time. I illegally sneaked into my first AA film at the age of 12 here (Westworld, starring Yul Brynner as a psycho robot cowboy), probably my first X-rated film too, although that might have been 'Goodbye Emmanuelle'(1977) at Kings Cinema in Camborne thinking about it. We saw bands here too. My first ever gig was the Glitterband (sans Gary) in 1974, I was 12. It was awesome...and very sexy being surrounded by loads of screaming girls. I went with a mate David Knowles. This was before I got into grown-up rock music obviously. I did see them twice though...and Showaddywaddy. A year or so later it was stuff like Greenslade and Camel but I never went to those...too proggy for me. I was into Bowie by then anyway.

From films such as 'That'll Be The Day' to 'Star Wars', 'Alien', 'Apocalypse Now', 'Straw Dogs', 'Monty Python's Holy Grail', the list is endless...all of them were seen here at Redruth's finest Flea Pit. Occasionally we would go over to The Cameo in Tuckingmill which had a reputation as a bit of a sleazy cinema showing films like 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner' and other such smut. The only thing I remember seeing there was 'Pink Floyd: Live in Pompeii' on the insistence of Phil Gilbert. Was that a good film? I don't really remember much about it.

I do remember walking past The Regal in 1973 and seeing crowds queuing up to watch 'The Exorcist'. There were some (Christians) with placards trying to stop people going in to watch it. Apparently they were offering counselling afterwards for those who were freaked out by the film. Can't imagine that happening today...except in Redruth maybe.

Good old Regal...still going too. One of the few things in Redruth that is still functioning.
Posted by Steve