A cinema in Stafford that dates back to 1936 has reentered the property market.
Stafford Cinema, on Newport Road, once again has for sale signs put up around it after previous plans to convert it into a music venue fell through.
Stafford Cinema served as one of the town’s main picture houses for 85 years. It started life as an Odeon Cinema in the 30s as part of the Oscar Deutsch chain. Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times was the first film to be shown there.
It was bought over and renamed as the Astra Cinema in 1981. The interior was redesigned and expanded to include two additional smaller cinemas.
It was renamed again in 1988 as the Appollo Cinema Stafford following a takeover by Appollo Cinemas.
The cinema initially closed in 2017 but later briefly reopened in April 2018. Following another closure, the cinema was relaunched in October 2019 by a man known as “Cinema Sam”. Unfortunately, the cinema closed for good in March 2020 during the Covid lockdown.
It was used briefly for private events in 2021 before being put on the market in 2022. It was announced in 2022 that the building would be converted into a music venue, but these plans failed to materialise.
Experienced writer and journalist James McKean leads the daily editorial output at StaffsLive. To contact him, email news@staffslive.co.uk
