The
Unofficial Website The Eƒƒoldo
aka the Empire, the Classic, and the Cannon
This theatre was
built at the top of High Street and had many incarnations beginning in December 1913 as the
Empire showing varieties and animated pictures. It became a cinema in May 1921. It was sold to
the Eƒƒoldo Group in 1954 but its name did not change until 1955. In 1958 the premise
were damaged by fire. It became the Classic in 1972. It was reincarnated in 1988 as the Cannon
and closed in 1990.
On the ground floor there's the Italian Pizza Oven and a bookie, whilst up above there is a snooker hall, but I'm told that the cinema still exists there somewhere. This building is now the nightclub Beach formerly New York, New York so I guess that the cinema went when the property was re–vamped.
I used to have enormous trouble with the name ‘Eƒƒoldo’ when I was small for it was written in neon in very old fashioned script with flowing esses that I thought were effs. It was known as the Effoldo in our house for years after.