The State Theatre, Grays

The State Theatre in Grays, Essex, opened on 5 September 1938 with The Hurricane starring Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall. Built and operated by the Frederick’s Electric Theatres circuit, it was an impressive cinema seating 2,200 people—1,400 in the stalls and 800 in the circle. It featured a Compton 3Manual/6Ranks organ with Melotone, set in a chamber beneath the stage, with a rainbow-lit console on a lift. The building also included a fully equipped stage, three dressing rooms, and a 50-seat restaurant in the circle foyer.

English Heritage granted the State Cinema Grade II Listed status in 1985. It later appeared in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, at which time the organ was still played nightly. The cinema closed on 30 November 1989 after screening Great Balls of Fire.

In the 1990s, the foyer briefly operated as Charleston’s nightclub, and concerts by David Essex and Suzi Quatro were staged. Jamiroquai filmed the 1998 Deeper Underground music video there. By 2001, Morrisons bought the site to expand parking, before it was resold in 2006 for £550,000. Left unused for decades, the building suffered repeated break-ins, including the theft of organ pipes around 2011.

Upgraded to Grade II* Listed in the early 2000s, the State became one of English Heritage’s most endangered buildings. In 2015, J.D. Wetherspoon purchased it, announcing £5 million plans to convert it into a 475-seat pub with a roof garden. Plans included roof repairs, plaster restoration, and organ renovation. Despite approval in 2021, the project stalled and was abandoned in 2022. Later that year, the cinema was sold at auction to an unnamed buyer, who began partial restoration. Scaffolding filled the auditorium for asbestos removal, but a large hole in the roof allowed rain and pigeons inside.