I headed back to Newcastle again to see what I could find, interested to know about the film industry I landed at the Tyneside Cinema and what a beautiful cinema it is.
Of course I did not turn up randomly, I had planned and booked ahead to have a FREE guided tour of the Tyneside Cinema.
The tour was led by a rather eccentric and film fanatic tour guide called Chris (who had a great moustache by the way).
He first took us outside to explain the history of the building, he highlighted something to me that I had never been thought about before.
If you have never been to the cinema in Newcastle (why not) then you will notice that the building is built with white bricks. According to Chris, there is no official reason why they are like that but he thinks it’s because the cinema is in a small narrow street, the white would catch people’s eye as they walked by.
There also used to be another cinema opposite so perhaps it was to entice audiences to visit the Tyneside rather than their competitor.
Forget about the outside, the interior of the building is simply beautiful, it was built as a News Theatre in 1937. Throughout the cinema you can see little hints of art deco all in the walls, windows and there is even the original screen ,again all hints of art deco where they used to screen the News Reels.
News Reels were a place where people could go to watch the news, this was a time before radio and television so if people wanted to know what was going on nationally they would to go the Tyneside Cinema to watch a news reel. And as a journalism graduate this really interested me, you know if we think now how we all consume our news via different mediums. It was totally different back then, going to a newsreel was an event for people. As they would buy their popcorn book their seat and watch what was going on around the world.
Wanted to more about the history click here
What I admired about the Tyneside Cinema was that it has so much history about it, they’ve made that apart of their brand and who they are. Since the cinema was open and to this day it shows independent/french/art films rather than the big blockbusters. I love how the art deco style has been fused with the contemporary/modern style so that the cinema is still accessible and relevant for today’s audience.
The guided tours take place every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at 11:00.
To find out more about the Guided Tours click here
Gemma's Journey 