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The Patch: Elland

Elland

BBC Radio 4 - The Patch, Elland

The Rex cinema started in 1912, still has an interval and organ, but faces a shock in 2020

The random postcode generator takes us to Elland, Yorkshire. The cinema opened in 1912 and it still has an interval and two organists. But in 2020, the Rex faces a shock.

The random postcode generator takes Producer Polly Weston to Elland, Yorkshire. There's been a cinema here since pre-WWI and it still has an interval and two organists. But in 2020, the Rex faces a shock.

Elland is sandwiched between Halifax and Huddersfield in the Calderdale valley. Locals say the town has had a bit of a rough time - it has lost shops, its Victorian swimming pool, and suffered from being the lesser known of its neighbours along the valley. But it does have something people across Yorkshire recognise it for: The Rex.

A 300 seater cinema, which opened in 1912, and where the layout remains largely as it was on the day it opened. Polly gets drawn in by its individuality, its organists (80-year-old Mildred and 33-year-old Ben) its mugs of tea in the interval and its gingerbread men. The cinema faces a string of new challenges - the multiplexes in Huddersfield and Halifax have recently slashed their prices to compete with the Rex's £5.50 entry, while floods have been tormenting the local infrastructure. But as the days roll on, it becomes clear that something much bigger is around the corner - something which might jeopardise the annual Laurel and Hardy evening which Ben has been preparing his score for months for. Something which might jeopardise everything.

Produced/presented by Polly Weston
Exec Producer Jolyon Jenkins

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