PILOT CINEMA

[EWW]

Dunno what the last film shown there was, but the last one I saw was JAWS.
I have small True's yard publication on the history of the cinemas of King's Lynn
somewhere and will look it out to see if it says anything in there about it. Now
where the booklet is is the problem

[greenpen]

Does anybody know when the Pilot Cinema closed and what the final film shown was? The only time I remember going here was to see Battlestar Galactica back in 1978.

I come back in 1984 and it was closed then, so it's been awhile. I used to have to drive past there in the bus midnight Saturdays and Sundays when it was Zoots. Always police about. Saw one foreinger laying there stabbed outside one night. WE don't want any of that old carry on any more. Better to flatten it if you ask me.

[tjh]

A friend of mine saw Malcolm, who used to own/run the cinema, the other day. He confirmed the Pilot Cinema closed in 1983 and the last film was Ghandi. It is very sad to see the state it's been allowed to get into now.

[8 boston square]

Never went to the Pilot, but it was a real part of Kings Lynn, North Lynn as I remember, went past it many times. It is
sad the way things are left to decay to make it alright to erase it from memory, well we will remember it.
Have things really improved since the times we remember in the 1960's? Not so sure, society changes and the powers that be convince us that this is what we want, hindsight is a wonderful thing but I used to like parking my Cortina on the old cattle market free and walking to the shops.
Pity the Pilot is not a listed building, its too much to ask for locals to buy it as a trust.

[EWW]

In the LN&A last tuesday it said that temp planning permission had been asked
for to turn the old place into a storage facility and a car wash. How many car
washes do we need? There is already one opposite the Pilot, one down St Annes
street, and one just round the corner on Austin fields.

[Frankly]

January 1976 was the last time I saw a Movie at ''The Pilot'' and it was ''Jaws''. I remember it vividly as the following week on Saturday 24th of January I got married in Wisbech.

[EWW]

76 hey how time flies. Small world as I mentioned back in the thread that
Jaws was the last film I saw there. Married the week after was ya, did you
sit in the double seats at the back that had no armrest

[Frankly]

Cheap seats only but as my soon to be Wife was a little scared, it was more like ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind''. After 36 years she still questions why we went to ''The Pilot'' to see such a scary movie.

[rutlander]

We used to play around the Pilot when we were kids and find all the old bits of film that were throw out, great fun, mum and dad took us there regulary when me and my brother were young and before most of pilot street was pulled down and we moved to highgate estate.

[EWW]

These are the plans for the old cinema. I first mentioned the 28 properties in 2011.
Looks like it is now going to be pulled down, so bang goes the theory of it being reopened.

http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/community/com ... -1-4841815

[banjo]

Another part of lynns history disappearing eww, The sad thing is, i cant think of anything else for them to do with it though, i suppose more flats are inevitable in and around the town centre area, another cinema wouldnt work now, what are youre thoughts on the matter?

[EWW]

Sad to see somewhere that I have had so much fun in disappear on one hand, but
on the other I do not think it is a particularly nice looking building and hate to see it
in the state it is in now. We have another building of the same period in the old Ford
garage next to the South-gates. How long that will stay there is debatable as that
whole corner is ripe for development also.

[rospaul]

........ As someone who was born and brought up in the North end –Loke Rd area I have many fond childhood memories of the old cinema. Looking at it now in its sad derelict state I can’t think of any other option but to demolish it, sad I know but time marches on, it has had it’s day.
The planned new development for the site in the Lynn News seems to be OK as far as I’m concerned, what ever is agreed it has to be an improvement to what we have there now. Others may disagree.

[thaberland]

I agree as many fond memories as we have all had they will never come back
even if they rebuilt it it would never be the same its the time when we didnt have any other things to do so we treasured the places like that, I think a nice Houseing area would be nice there, The great memories will always be with us to treasure as long as us OLDIES are alive

[8 boston square]

I never went to see a film there but was certainly aware of where it was and how important it was to Lynn and North Lynn, they were the good times, they are our memories, that the Pilot and the Theatre Royal have long gone is very sad, perhaps I see through rose coloured specs but the Lynn today is not the Lynn I remember and looking back it functioned pretty well with out all the gadgets we use today, things were much simpler then.