Athena Cinema, Leicester 2005

The amazing art deco Athena cinema was the venue for an awards ceremony held in Leicester, and what better band could there be had to enliven and enhance an event as prestigious as this? Café Society of course! Who else! We were all looking forward to this job as it was in the recently restored 1930s Cinema, the Athena. The 1930s, as you can imagine, is a particular era we have an affection for. You could say we were truly in our most appropriate setting.





So off we set and despite monsoons, road works and the M6, we arrived just in time and were ready for the off. We performed in the bar first of all and it was nice to see some people had come in costume. We then played in the main part of the cinema and due to the excellent acoustics hardly any amplification was needed. During the first break we were very kindly invited to have a drink. George can be seen here enjoying is seventh!





On this occasion we were very pleased to be joined by Andy Henderson. John was off jet setting to the Costa Brava and Andy was luckily available. A great player and fearfully nice chap, especially when it came to helping carry the speakers!





Leicester seemed a nice place, though we seemed to have arrived at the annual Leicester pot hole and temporary traffic lights festival!! Still, despite the digging and diversions, the Athena remains a very handsome building. Hopefully other towns will take notice of their old cinemas and preserve the architectural gems they truly are.





What remains of The Ritz Cinema, Wigan, 1936 - 2005.