Safari Cinema was at 225 London Road

A235 road

The A235 is a non-primary A road between Purley and Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon. Before the construction of the Purley Way in the 1920s, it was part of the A23 London to Brighton road....

 in Broad Green

Broad Green, London

Broad Green is a small residential and retail area of the London Borough of Croydon in London. The area was centred on a triangular green space bounded by shops and houses, which was subsequently developed upon at the end of the 19th century...

, Croydon

London Borough of Croydon

The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...

. During part of its life it was owned by the Associated British Cinemas

Associated British Cinemas

ABC Cinemas was a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. A wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation , it operated between the 1930s and the late 1960s...

 chain.

History

Opened on March 9, 1936, the ABC-owned Savoy was designed by William R. Glen and seated 2,300. It was a fair distance from the town centre. Lighting in the large spacious auditorium was entirely indirect, mainly from troughs on the ceiling.

On March 31, 1953 an electrical fault resulted in a fire that totally destroyed the auditorium. Post-war building restrictions were still in force and the repaired Savoy reopened with a utilitarian appearance on December 27, 1953. In July 1958 it closed to allow a more extensive reconstruction to take place. When it reopened as the ABC on October 19, it held 2118 and was lavishly appointed.

Tripling caused the next closure, from May to November 1972. The rear circle became 650-seat screen 1, with the stalls split into screen 2 (390 seats) and 3 (187 seats). All had bland unadorned decor. Renamed Cannon in 1986 and Safari in the late 1990s, the cinema closed in 2004 and was demolished in March/April 2005.

Closure

The cinema closed in 2004, primarily because of opening of a Warner Village cinema

Warner Village Cinemas

Warner Village Cinemas UK was a chain of multiplex cinemas operated by Warner Brothers in the United Kingdom. Created in November 1996, it was a joint venture between Warner Bros.Intl. Theatres and Village Roadshow Australia. In the UK the chain was subsequently purchased by SBC International...

 (now Vue

Vue (cinema)

Vue Entertainment , formerly known as SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 when SBC acquired 36 Warner Village cinemas. There are now 69 Vue cinemas, with 654 screens totaling 140,500 seats, including the rebranded...

) in the Grants

Grants of Croydon

Grants of Croydon is an entertainment complex at 14-32 High Street, Croydon, London. Originally built in 1894, Grants became a Grade II listed building in 1990. In 2000 Grants was re-developed into an entertainment centre. It was bought by Scottish Widows in early 2010.- Department store :The two...

 entertainment venue. Safari had been known as a Bollywood cinema, showing many Bollywood films as well as Hollywood blockbusters. After the closure Warner Village reserved one screen in the multiplex for Bollywood films

The decision to demolish the cinema did not proceed without controversy, with local residents and prior customers of the cinema remarking that the cinema "is the last of the historic cinemas from the Golden Age left in Croydon."

Land Usage

Developers plan to demolish the 1930s building and replace it with 138 apartments, including 52 key worker shared-ownership flats. The plan was dependent on the issuance of planning permission. This was duly granted and at the time of writing (September 2007) development of the site is underway. Overstrand Ltd are the current owners of the site, with Ian Hutchinson as the developer.

Subsequently, the developers applied to Croydon Council for permission to construct 47 additional apartments on the site of the derelict Total

Total S.A.

Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...

/Elf

Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine was a French oil company which merged with TotalFina to form TotalFinaElf. The new company changed its name to Total in 2003...

/Fina

Petrofina

Petrofina was a Belgian oil company which merged with Total in 1999 to form TotalFina, but the name has now been changed back to Total after another merger...

petrol station, also on London Road.