Because of coronavirus, Loughborough’s cinemas have been empty and silent for the last four months. While we wait for them to be lively again, American Studies lecturer Dr Andrew Dix has created a podcast which recaptures the vivid history of the town’s film-watching from the end of the nineteenth century to the present.

Andrew takes a walk not only to the Odeon and Cineworld that are still thriving, but to Loughborough’s several ‘ghost cinemas’: those sites, now put to other uses, where townspeople once gathered to watch films. We will hear about the Victory, the Playhouse and Vint’s Electric Hippodrome – and about the community’s film-viewing even before the coming of purpose-built cinemas.  

“In my film studies work, I’m interested not only in what’s on screen but, increasingly, in the places in which people watch movies – and where better to research than Loughborough itself?

“Through audio and images, I tell the story of eight locations in Loughborough where people have watched films from the 1890s to the present, including one cinema that boasted about its high-quality heating system, and another that was previously a roller-skating rink. I hope that in the podcast the town’s ghost-cinemas, as well as its two current ones, come alive.”

This podcast was commissioned by LU Arts as part of Loughborough University’s Arts Week, a programme of online talks, performances and workshops celebrating the creative community at Loughborough.

LU Arts would like to thank Dr Andrew Dix for his time in creating this podcast.