It was back in March 1959 when it was announced that Woking’s Gaumont cinema in Chertsey Road was to close in June of that year.

In its edition of March 6, 1959, the News & Mail reported the news, saying the cinema was the home of the first picture house in Woking when the building was converted in 1911.

Owner the J Arthur Rank Organisation had given notice it was not intending to renew the lease, with the report adding: “The closure is part of the organisation’s rationalisation scheme which has caused the disappearance of many of Britain’s smaller theatres. 

“The action is unusual in that the theatre is leased. 

“Most theatres are owned by the film industry and they have been able to dispose of their own properties by sale. 

“In this case the matter rests with the landlords.”

At the time it had a staff of 20 and it was expected they would all retain their jobs at other cinemas.

Researcher Mark Coxhead has discovered this News & Mail story, while in the same edition a second article told the cinema’s interesting history.

It appears the cinema was converted from premises that had formed the Old Liberal Club and actually opened in 1912. 

Woking plumber and garage owner Henry Quartermaine bought and rebuilt the club and the cinema was named the Central Halls.

There was further rebuilding in 1927 and its name was changed to the Plaza. It became the Gaumont around 1952. 

The News & Mail’s potted history of the cinema claimed that in the early days, when there was a struggle between the cinema and the variety theatre, it was quite usual to have trouble in the auditorium. Even with 550 seats, so popular was it that there were fights for those seats.

It’s said that by the time Mr Quartermaine sold the cinema in 1921, he was paying £60 a week for an orchestra to provide the music to the silent films being shown.

The old cinema was pulled down and rebuilt, opening on February 7, 1927, as Woking’s Super Cinema. A sound room was added when films with sound (the talkies) came into being and a canopy added to the building at the front.

The report named a number of the cinema’s managers. A Mr Iverson was appointed in 1919 and stayed until he retired in 1940. 

An article on Woking cinemas by Richard and Rosemary Christophers, which can be found on The Lightbox’s website, states Frederick Charles Iverson was “a popular figure, tall and well built, distinguished by a bowler hat at a rakish angle and a cigar”. 

A Mr Bishop was appointed in 1949, followed by a Mr Matthews. 

The manager at the time the closure was announced was Ernest Seals, who had arrived in 1957.

In 1952, the cinema had been redecorated at a cost of about £1,200. New curtains were hung, and a new floor that cost £600 was laid in the stalls. 

The report noted: “The old gas brackets that used to cast a gloomy flickering light were done away with and new secondary lights were installed. 

“The stalls and the balcony were re-carpeted at a cost of £1,400. The catch phrase, ‘a good film but what a cinema!’, then disappeared.”

In 1955, workmen installed a new Weston metallic screen and other equipment so the Gaumont could show the then- latest film techniques known as CinemaScope and Vistavision. Evidently it enhanced the screen by at least 50 per cent.

Introduced in January 1956 was a seven-day film programme starting on Sundays. In its final year, the cinema had experimented with starting the week-long run of films on Fridays.

The report included: “So the Gaumont story is almost complete, but not quite. The future of the building is as yet unknown. Sale boards will appear on the front of the house within the next month. 

“The owners of the lease of the site, Barclays Bank Ltd, have yet to comment on the move by the Rank Organisation.

“The closure of the Gaumont brings the total number of closed cinemas in this part of Surrey to three. First was the Arcade at Camberley, and second the Plaza at Guildford, which is now converted into a dance hall.”