We were booked in for an hour and a half guided tour but ended up staying there for almost two and a half hours and were given a short film screening at the end in their little cinema.
It was such an amazing place. Even from a graphic design perspective there were so many signs from old cinemas with absolutely beautiful typography.
There was about six rooms purely dedicated to archiving print material - everything from magazines and books to photographs and film. It really was an Aladdin's den of cinema memoribilia. The tour guide told us that in one room they had images from about 75% of the films ever made!
Just when we thought the tour was about to end we were led up a flight of stairs and shown to the fairly recently acquired upstairs floor which is the chapel from the old workhouse. Boy, was it stunning. The space is available to rent out and is where they host events with actors and those in the film industry. Around the room there is so much cinema memoribilia - everything from sets of cinema seats to old film cameras.
Opening in April, which we got to get a sneak preview of, is a new part of the exhibition of the outfits the cinema ushers have worn throughout history. A majority were in a very military style which I never knew about and they had been preserved so well.
I would urge anyone to book on the guided tour you really won't be disappointed!
