I had planned a sensible post for today but as I stood on Birmingham Moor Street station, I spotted this building.
First, it's a very basic brick and concrete structure with a flat roof. As a modelling project, you couldn't find much easier. Tucked beside a station, it's ideal for an industrial landscape.
However, whatever the building was originally home to is a mystery. Now, it's a cinema for "adult" films.
I'd have thought that including one of these on a layout would date it to no later than the 1980s. After that, surely the arrival of VHS cassettes would have killed the demand to watch grumble films in a room with other Macintosh wearing people? (Note: It's often said that VHS won the format war with Betamax because Sony refused to let those sort of films be sold on their format).
There used to be a "Private Cine Club" opposite Gee Dee Models in Nottingham. It was there the first time I visited (the model shop) in around 84 or 85. Long gone as I recall, or at least the sign is.
Now with the Internet and special films only a click away, how come this survives? Their website is pretty coy about the programme showing on the "2 main cinemas showing a wide variety of adult films". Perhaps the "seated area for you to relax and make new friends" is more important?
2 comments:
Phil - I'm glad your thorough approach to research required you to check out their website but please don't put that sort of link in your blog - if I clicked that at work it'd be next stop the dole queue! Good building though.
Perhaps it might be one of those things it's better to draw a veil around - the sort of topic which often seems to attract "TMI" ("too much information") comments on hobby forum sites.
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