A cinema in storage

Many cinemas faced closure and demolition in the 1960s and 1970s, among them the Broadway cinema in Bristol, which closed its doors in 1972. As we’ve already seen in Cinemas in Museums, some cinemas have been painstakingly re-located within museums but generally buildings are not the easiest objects to move. The artefacts within them present less of a problem and together can give a real sense of its individuality. The Bristol Museums Galleries & Archives have done just this with the elements of the Broadway, which dates back to 1933. Although currently in reserve storage, the projectors, sound equipment and cinema fittings, including ticket machines, screens, signage and uniform, can be viewed by appointment, along with the architectural drawings which also form part of the collection.