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The Dounreay Social Club in Pultneytown, Wick closed down at the end of June 2007. In it's last week two of our members had the amazing adventure of climbing into areas of the building not seen by the public for over 40 years to reveal the hidden treasures remaining of the former Breadalbane Cinema.
We don't have an opening date yet but it was some time in the late teens or early 20s. The cinema closed in 1962 along with the Lybster Cinema. Neither cinema ever saw a CinemaScope movie. To the right is the foyer. The layout is still not clear but the doors at the far end were probly for ladies and gents toilets and fuse room. A feature behind the camera view suggests that the box office was at the foot of the main stair. The foyer doesn't offer enough space for it to be elsewhere but we'll try to find out for sure.
Immediately facing the main doors is the back of the projection room with only 6ft or so to spare hense the question mark over the box office location. On this side can just be seen the start of the access to the left stalls. See below.
The stalls were located at basement level as the ground drops away immediately from the foyer level to the back of the building. The projection room is at street level.
<----Left Stalls & centre
Right stalls & centre--->
Above, when the cinema closed is was slightly altered to be used as a function hall by the county council. It retained the balcony until conversion into the Dounreay Social Club. The huge beam seen here was originally higher up to support the balcony but was repositioned to support a new hall upstairs. It now passes in front of the projection ports blocking them from view.
To the left is the left entrance to the stalls. Both stalls doorways retain original 1930s doors.
Between the lower and upper parts of the club hides this section of the cinema on the left side revealling remaining panelling. Former windows can be seen along the length and the textured area in the larger photo is one of two formerly colourful murals each side which adorned the 1930s art-deco interior.
Above left: a clearer view looking towards the stage end. Above right: under the snooker room which occupies the stage, is this small bit of front panel of the stage, just out of view is part of a door post for a set of double doors on the left of the original stage. The green area is part of the wall to the side of the stage frame. Stage right is currently accessed by a single door in the dining room.
The projection room of the cinema stragely occupies the whole of it's own floor level and this corridor (both images above) leads to a side door (left) now conceiled by an exterior fire stair. The door is still in service. As stated the stalls were at basement level, the projection room is on street level and the balcony starts on the second floor dropping to first floor. The paint is cream on top and green below. (paint has never been so interesting!) Incidentally the stalls floor was completely flat so if you got someone tall in front, well tuff!
Above left: Inside the projection room the ports for (left to right) Operator main port, projector 1 port, projector 1 operator port, projector 2 port, projector 2 operator port. The two projector operator ports still have original opening windows. The amplifier was postioned on the wall between the projectors. The sound controls were to the left of projector 2. Above right: The back wall of the projection room shows the position of the lighting controls (2 dimmers probably) and shelving. A steep stair drops to the back stalls but this may not be original. The ceiling level has been dropped by at least 2ft, not sure why.
Above left: On the right of the projection room is a small work/spool room with a viewing port into the auditoria. Above right: In a newer cupboard taking up part of the projection room is this little word so the fire fighting equipment would have been stored here. In real terms, if the niterate film ignited you wouldn't waste time reaching for a fire extiguisher- you just run for your dear life and don't look back!
On the second floor the window frames reveal the charred beams of the original structure, the cinema was destroyed by fire in the 1930s and then rebuilt. The loft space seen here shows the steel beams but originally it was all wood with iron fixings and had a higher pitch. The post fire cinema had a number of modifications which are evident on the outside of the building. Have a look at the first photo on this page again. In the lower loft image you can see a wooden walkway and large square frames which would have housed the ceiling lights which could have been serviced from here.
Above left: Also in the loft on each side of the building can be seen panels which reveal the rake of the balcony seating, Shown here is the right hand side. The balcony and stalls had the same seating arrangement across the width of the building in rows of 6-8-6 seats. Above right: Yet another viewing port from possibly a managers office on the 2nd floor. The middle section of the top floor was the balcony foyer and on then the stairwell which took in the full height to street level.
Above left: The blocked up doorway onto the balcony right and centre. Above right: The door onto balcony left and centre. The red brick wall is part of the post-fire design but the balcony had always been accessed from this level.
Shown to the right here is the opening to the loft located above the centre balcony seating. A conduit for a light fitting can also be seen at one side of the opening.
Above and above right: Because the newer roof has a lower pitch, the ceiling in the cinema is also lower so it had to encorporate a step up at the rear of the balcony to allow enough height for the balcony doors. The panels shown here face the doors and in the middle of each are the back-boxes for light fittings over the balcony aisles. To the right can be seen the facing panel of the step with the lower ceiling in green.
Above left & right: On both sides of the of the balcony can be seen a little of the remaining detail where ceiling meets the walls. Whilst this is simple wood panel working the fully painted details seen from the seats below would still have looked pleasing to the eye. In the left picture is part of our favourite descovery, see below.
When we first shon a torch across the width of the cinema to this side of the building we were amazed by this hidden feature. Bricked up on the outside and hidden behind the main hall bar, this original balcony fire door was an unexpected discovery. Everything else we found was fairly obvious from standard cinema design. There was no clue as to the existance of this untouched feature in original condition, the only intact original feature of the cinema.
The view from one end to the other. The stage in the main hall upstairs occupies the same area of the original and the frame around it is a simplified remnant of the original. Where the carpet stops is pretty much the front of the balcony which had a 3 sectioned scalloped front. The area nearer the camera would have been below the balcony and is the 1st floor level of the cinema. We have no clue as to what this near space would have been used for but if our thoughts about the box office are correct then it is likely that this area may have had a small cafe. Perhaps this page will create feedback from original staff and patrons who can enlighten us better than our guess work.
Looking from the stage back to the balcony you can see the pitch of the cinema ceiling in this part of the building. All original ceiling details have been removed.
Our 3 day expedition to the Breadalbane Cinema proved a fruitful adventure as we clung to beams and climbed shakey ladders with torches and flood lights to reach the hidden secrets of a lost era. We gleaned enough information to draught approximate plans of the cinema's layout which we will add to this page later. We wish to thank the staff and customers who let us free-range the building and gave us clues about the cinema. We hope that this selection of images like our other local cinema pages will fire the imagination and rekindle happy memories of Saturday matinees and late night movies.
Now where the heck is the Lybster Cinema? (We know it was on Main Street)
