High Street with Empire Theatre at Grays Thurrock c.1928 [Author's Collection]. Map extract from Ordnance Survey Sheet 161 London NE - OS One-Inch Map Depicted 1954, Published 1960. Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.

High Street with Empire Theatre at Grays Thurrock c.1928

The old High Street at Grays has lost its character and looks like, well, many other places filled with homogenous boxes occupied by large brands. However, it was once an animated street full of vibrancy and idiosyncratic buildings, none more so than that of the Empire Theatre which can be seen to the right of this image. With seating for 800 patrons, this was the first cinema to be opened in Grays on December 22nd, 1910. The building was formally opened by John Kirkwood M.P. Erected by Messrs. Brown Bros. of Grays, the Empire was operated by Frederick's Electric Theatres Ltd.,¹ a firm that opened further cinemas in the locality. A poster on the building shows that a forthcoming attraction was "The Magic Flame," a 1927 silent film directed by Henry King and starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky, a woman dubbed "The Hungarian Rhapsody." Attendances at the Empire slumped in the run-up to the Second World War. An effort was made to convert the building into a live theatre but this venture failed. The premises were subsequently requisitioned by the Ministry of Food as a store for the remainder of the war. The building later served in a number of different leisure and retail roles until it was demolished in the 1960s.

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References
1. "Opening of Grays New Theatre" : Southend Standard and Essex Weekly Advertiser; December 29th, 1910, Page 5.

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