State Cinema, Grays
England · Cinema · February 2025
- Country
- England
- Type
- Cinema
- Published
- February 2025
- Contributor
- UrbandonedTeam
- Videos
- 1
Watch the report
History
Titled the ‘Esse Theatre’, the complex was constructed in the 1930s and opened on 5 September 1938 with the film The Hurricane. The cinema hall seated more than 2,200 guests across the stalls and a large circle. During the 1980s, rising film-rental costs left theatre-cinemas such as Grays struggling. On 5 September 1988, exactly 50 years after opening, a closing night showed The Hurricane again before the doors shut. In 1991, the theatre briefly reopened as a bar called Charlestons, whose restaurant occupied the foyer. It lasted seven years before closing. Later plans to convert the long-vacant State Cinema into a Wetherspoons did not come to fruition. The Grade II-listed building is protected for its architectural heritage.