The Esse theatre was constructed in the 1930s – no surprise given its style, and was officially opened on the 5th of September 1938, with ‘The Hurricane’ being the first film to be projected onto the cinema screen. The huge cinema had seats for 2,200 theatre goers and even had a 50 seater restaurant on site.
The cinema functioned through wartime and the decades that followed with little change, going strong until business began to falter by the 1970s. It was then purchased by the Mecca Leisure Group, who spent £20,000 on the cinema to try and bring in new customers. Restoration work occurred on the old organ in 1982, and for several years Sunday afternoon concerts were held. With film rental on the rise and modern multi-screen cinemas becoming more attractive than old theatres, Mecca finally left the building. A closing night was held on the 5th of September 1988, exactly 50 years after it opened, and the very same film ‘The Hurricane’ was shown. In the same year the cinema was filmed for the big screen, where it was chosen as a location for a sequence in the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
Preventing its demolition, the State became Grade II listed. from the outside, its imposing size and striking Art Deco design makes it easy to see why. From the inside, most of the original furnishings and plasterwork still remain, so its certainly a bit of a time capsule. In 1991, the theatre briefly reopened as a bar called Charlestons, of which there’s a few remnants, but it only lasted 7 years. In 1998, Jamiroquai’s Deeper Underground music video was filmed in the theatre, involving it actually being flooded completely with extras running for their safety and the man himself precariously dancing on the backrests of the theatre seats. Not sure what they did with all that water after but it can’t have done the structure much good!
In 2000, the listing status was upgraded to Grade II*, with a focus being placed on its highly preserved interior. The State Theatre has remained abandoned for a very long time now, gradually decaying as water gets in. At one point, it saw hopes of becoming a Wetherspoons, but for whatever reason there was a U-turn.
Projector Room
Lobby and Foyer Areas
