Revellers who used to frequent the Cavendish Street premises when it was Department nightclub or its predecessors Escapade and Zanzibar would love to see it reopen as a nightclub.
John Parker comments on the Derbyshire Times’ Facebook site: “Loved this place, please make it a nightclub again.” Catherine Pyatt posts: “We need it back into a club! Chesterfield nightlife needs it.”
Carol Howe writes: “Ice rink, trampoline, laser quest, anything apart from offices or car park.”
Originally opened as a cinema in the 1930s, the part vacant/part tenant building has a guide price of £350,000.
Homeware retailer Boyes holds the lease for the ground floor part of the property.
Bids are invited by SDL Property Auctions for the streamed auction on Thursday, April 28, 2022. The auction, which involves several properties around the country, will start at 10am.
. Faded glory
The 1930s building, designed in an Art Deco style, closed its doors as a nightclub a decade ago. Photo: Gay Bolton
1. Original name
The building on Cavendish Street was known as the Regal Cinema when it opened. The first film shown there was Follow The Fleet with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in 1936. It was still trading as the Regal when this photo was taken in 1952. Photo: Chesterfield Library\R Wilsher
2. Name change
A change of ownership saw the cinema renamed as ABC in 1961. When the picture house closed its doors for the last time 30 years ago, it had reverted to its original name of the Regal. Joe Burton posted on Facebook: "My grandma worked in there when it was a cinema." Photo: Submitted
3. Stars' haunt
Look at who performed live in Chesterfield's ABC cinema in the Sixties! Rob Taylor commented: “My sister was at the Hendrix gig (to see the Walker Bros) and Hendrix dedicated a song to her - ‘Foxy Lady’. Adelle Hampshire said: “My stepmum was at the Hendrix gig... she got his autograph but my stepgran threw it away!” Photo: Submitted
4. Popular pub
In the early Seventies the Painted Wagon pub opened in the former stalls area of the cinema. It was a must-visit destination on the Chesterfield town centre pub crawl circuit although at times resembled a Wild West saloon bar! Karon Mather, commenting on the Dirty Stop Out's Guide to 1980s Chesterfield Facebook page said: "I remember it well, was in there hiding in the toilets when it got smashed up by Hell's Angels." Photo: Submitted