READER John Swarsbrick once lived next door to The Copperfields Club in Bolton.

The building, in Crompton Way, is now a supermarket.

It was the Crompton Cinema from the 1930s. “I lived near Tonge Park then and my pals and I were regularly at the cinema — in fact on Saturday afternoons we used to attend the special matinees and watched various serials continued week after week where one in particular was The Clutching Hand. Can you imagine a twelve year old being allowed to watch that in those days? I also fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor there — who was also twelve — when I saw her in her first film National Velvet.”

John does not recall when the cinema closed but believes it was probably in the sixties when it became either the Casino Club or the Bees Knees.

“There were many problems for the local residents due to the parking and sleep disturbance when customers were going home.

“Petitions were the norm but my wife Enid and I were not particularly affected by the noise and we did have a night out there once or twice. It was the era of big names being booked at clubs such as this particularly in the north and we remember Shirley Bassey giving us a wave from the car park which was at the back of our garden,” recalls John. Our picture shows fun and games at The Copperfields.