goldenfleece Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 What is the longest Q anyone can remember to see a film in Sheffield? The longest for me was November/December 1982 at the Gaumont (Kingdom nightclub), Barkers Pool, when the Q to see ET on the first night stretched way round the corner, past the Yorkshireman Arms pub (Lions Lair) and further round back up round Cole Brothers and up Cambridge Street to the point the Q nearly rejoined itself For THREE successive nights we could not get in, and had to keep going back...... 2nd longest Q was to see ALIEN in 1979 at the same cinema, Q for 1/4 of a mile every night for the first week... 3rd longest Q was to see opening night of STAR WARS Empire STrikes Back in 1980 at the ABC (site now a travel Inn), wow that was pretty long as well. 4th longest would have been to see STAR TREK I in 1979, also long and slow Q..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojoworking Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Originally posted by goldenfleece What is the longest Q anyone can remember to see a film in Sheffield? The longest for me was November/December 1982 at the Gaumont (Kingdom nightclub), Barkers Pool, when the Q to see ET on the first night stretched way round the corner, past the Yorkshireman Arms pub (Lions Lair) and further round back up round Cole Brothers and up Cambridge Street to the point the Q nearly rejoined itself For THREE successive nights we could not get in, and had to keep going back...... 2nd longest Q was to see ALIEN in 1979 at the same cinema, Q for 1/4 of a mile every night for the first week... 3rd longest Q was to see opening night of STAR WARS Empire STrikes Back in 1980 at the ABC (site now a travel Inn), wow that was pretty long as well. 4th longest would have been to see STAR TREK I in 1979, also long and slow Q..... Why bother? No film's worth queueing to that extent for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopman Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 You must have been in the wrong queue! ET was shown by the ABC circuit and Empire Strikes back was shown by the Gaumont/Odeon chain. (I think it was only in Sheffield and Doncaster that the name Gaumont was used in those days, most of the other cinemas on the chain were called Odeon. The queues at the ABC would have started inside the building along the stalls area corridor, through the foyer, out the door up the arcade and down the other side and then possibly down the passageway towards the local building society - It was rumoured that for some films, the queue could stretch down as far as Halifax... the Building Society . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superCol Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 I remember the queues for ET at the ABC. I was Assistant Manager at the time. I had to go down the queue counting the number of folk waiting and advising those at the end not to bother as they would not get in. Luckily most punters were under cover in the arcade so they didn't get wet when it poured down. It was nightmare getting everyone seated. Whilst the capacity was 1327 (or was it 1324 - can't remeber now), we could never totally fill the place as we always had a few odd single seats. The amount of Pepsi, Sunkist and ice cream that we sold was amazing. So was the mess left behind when the place emptied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Jaws - Boxing Day 1975 at the ABC, no contest. Showing my age now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owdlad Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 I used to love going to the pictures and seeing a queue, then a swift look at the missis and a nod towards the nearest pub usually saved a lot of time waiting for a film that we could watch for free on video a few years later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lestat Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 The queue's are still huge now. If you ever visit UGC on an opening night of a film the queue goes round and round in circles for ages. . . by the time you get to the till your all dizzy. SuperCol, You must have been at the ABC when Superman 1 came out. That was my first ever film at a cinema. I went with my brothers and when the bloke counting came past - we thought he was looking for anyone who didn't look old enough and my brothers had to shuffle in front of me and tell me to keep hidden until he'd gone past!! LOL! Wow, the cinema was an amazing experience, in the days before DVD's and computers and downloading stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenfleece Posted February 18, 2005 Author Share Posted February 18, 2005 Could have sworn ET was at the Gaumont........oh well, time plays funny tricks with your mind. What on earth was I q'ing to see then I wonder if it was at the ABC......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopman Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Hi Supercol, Are you thinking of Butterkist? If so, that never seemed to sell when there was a big film on. Big film seemed to attract Playtime popcorn sales. 30p a cardboard carton packed with nutition. There were some good films in those days... as well as some absolute dross. Does anyone remember Outland with Sean Connery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docmel Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Goldenfleece Can I respectfully suggest that you may be getting confused with 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' ? That was at the Gaumont - I remember taking my younger sisters to the first showing and queing for hours - now my memory may be playing tricks but I am sure the premiere at the Gaumont was a Sunday afternoon - we did not see the first showing but waited for the next one . What I do remember are all the people coming out in complete awe looking like they had really seen an alien ship and all saying to the people in the queue how great the movie was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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