The old lady of Cowley Road

The Old Lady of Cowley Road', as the building was once known, fell on hard times some years back and faced a very real threat from the wrecking balls. Now her fortunes have been restored - she is back flaunting the youthful glamour of her dream palace days. Designed by Robert Cromie, a noted architect of cinemas in England during the inter-war years, the Regal has a fascinating history.

It first opened on April 19, 1937, when much of Britain was still facing hardship under the Depression. But the assembly lines at Morris Motors in Cowley were booming, and at the Regal's opening ceremony, deputy mayor Mary Townsend celebrated the building's construction as a sign of Oxford's growing prosperity.

82-year old Graham Wintle, still resident in Oxford, was projectionist at the Regal in its early days. He recalls that although colour films had already arrived before the Second World War, the hues were garish.

"The reds and blues and greens were very vivid. And they were still showing a lot of black and white films. The screen was very small. It was only when TV came in that, to counteract it, they went larger.

"We were a long way away from the screen in the projection room, and in those days we used to get a lot of fog, mostly from chimney smoke. Although we had a good fan system, sucking air in and taking it out, it just couldn't cope.

"It was sucking fog in and we had a job to penetrate through it to the screen sometimes. The audience were all smoking too, but they still used to complain - we can't see because of the smoke'!"

Graham's favourites were cowboy films, often starring John Wayne.

"Of course then I was only a boy - I was 14 when I started working at The Regal. Musicals we used to like too," he recalled.

"There were always two of us in the projection room, and we could control the sound in the box. We would often switch it off, but with a musical we'd usually leave it on all the time."

Later colour film improved and screens became larger, but many cinemas struggled to hold their audiences as the bingo craze swept Britain in the early 1960s.

Graham explained how the Regal began by having two bingo days, alternating with cinema days.

In 1970, film screenings ceased altogether and the Regal became the Gala Bingo Hall.

The bingo hall did not close until 2004 when the building became derelict, with paintwork peeling, windows smashed and pigeons haunting the old cinema auditorium.

Salvation came when a local businessman with fond boyhood memories of the old cinema bought the property. Designated a Grade II Listed building by English Heritage it has since been restored to its former glory by a team headed by Adam Marsh, Charles McCreedy and resident DJ Kieran Hayes.

Their vision was to create an entertainment venue that celebrated its Art Deco origins, yet was fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for every type of performance, from live music to disco, jazz, theatre, conferences and parties.

Today, entering the stylish Great Room, Elite and Foyer bars, you have little sense of quite how much hard work went into the restoration project.

"The first time I walked in I thought, no, no - no way,' managing director Adam Marsh told me. "We were faced with a mammoth task. The whole building had to be taken back to bare walls. A lot of work was done researching the heritage of the building, searching for original paint colours, restoring Art Deco detailing and so on.

Extraordinary attention was given, for example, to the colour scheme.

"We had a paint analyst come in and he took about 26 coats of paint off the wall and told us roughly what year was what colour. The Listed Buildings people originally wanted a very different scheme, but with the analyst's report we were able to define the original colours. So we've got lots of aubergine, brown and raspberry blush (as the pink is called), as well as gold for the fretwork."

Fire regulations allow the Regal to house 1750 people, though the venue is currently limited to 1,000 on the ground floor for live music. (The old cinema seats in the circle have a conservation order on them; pending restoration, they can only be used for cinema screenings).

A 65000 watt, hi-tech sound system graces the Great Room, and the building is equipped with solid metal acoustic doors that keep the decibels inn. Though the Regal is sited in a residential area, reaching the venue presents no problem as mini-bus shuttles will run from each of the Park and Rides on live music nights.

Among this month's attractions, the Cowley Road Carnival is to hold its Official After Show Party at the Regal on July 6 - an event that promises to be both lively and exotic, with the magic of a masquerade theme and free entry from 6pm till late.

On July 13 the energetic and inventive Anita Wardell - a BBC Jazz Award Winner acclaimed by The Guardian as a model of the jazz singer's art' appears.

With many more acts lined up for autumn, including the fantastic Radio.String.Quartet.Vienna and Zimbabwean soul star Netsayi, the programme is rich and eclectic.

Meanwhile, the Regal's regular events include modern Jive Dance every Monday night and Salsa every Tuesday, with fun, easy-to-learn classes, dancing till late - and no need to bring a partner.

"The continued message goes out to the community," said Adam Marsh. "Come and talk to us if you want to use this space."