Portcities London

reflecting our cultures

Maritime London Partnership

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Port pastimes

Then:

Star Cinema, Abbey Street, c. 1937, Bermondsey.  © NMM

Cinemas became a popular haven for dockworkers in the early 20th century. Inside opulent and comfortable interiors, cinemagoers enjoyed a cheap and full afternoon of entertainment aimed at all the family.

For the price of one ticket, they got to watch two films, a cartoon, a newsreel and possibly a live act. You even got free entry if it was your birthday! Audiences grew rapidly throughout the Second World War. In spite of bombing and explosions outside, the film shows continued.

John, Ivy and Doreen remember going to the cinema in Woolwich:

You'd have one film and then you'd have a serial, wouldn't you…?' 'You'd have a small film and then you'd have the organ come up.' 'Yeah, sing-along adverts.' 'Happy news then.' 'Then the big film…' 'When you went to the pictures… you saw the news… Pathé news… we never had television but you saw it at the pictures.

Now:

Cinema today is a multi-sensory experience with large screens and surround-sound technology. The local, independent cinema has almost vanished, swallowed up by the sheer size and Hollywood appeal of the multi-screen complexes with their ever-changing selection of box office hits.

Michelle is more likely to rent films on video than go to the cinema:

Sometimes go to Bromley cinema and I used to go to the one in Lewisham but that's shut down now… me and my friends usually rent a video out and stay in.

• The 20th century port video gallery
• The 20th-century port

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