Cinema that showed first 'talkie' earns listed status

An old Birmingham cinema building has been granted grade II listed status.

- KIRSTY BOSLEY

The Futurist, in John Bright Street, has been listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), acknowledging that it is of special interest.

The old cinema, built in 1919, was the first in Birmingham to show a 'talkie' film after years of silent shows, screening The Singing Fool back in 1929.

Historic England, which recommended the building for listing, said that The Futurist was an 'accomplished example of early cinema architecture'.

Sadly, the fine building, designed back in 1914, is no longer in use as a cinema. Its fate in recent years has seen it used as a shisha bar and strip club and it is now a Carribean restaurant.

Back in 1940, the old cinema was damaged during the Birmingham Blitz, surviving the Luftwaffe air raid.