{"id":11878,"date":"2023-06-01T14:12:08","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T13:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fass\/projects\/cmda\/?p=11878"},"modified":"2025-05-01T10:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:56:13","slug":"the-elite-the-cosy-and-the-cosy-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fass\/projects\/cmda\/index.php\/2023\/06\/01\/the-elite-the-cosy-and-the-cosy-bus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elite, the Cosy and the Cosy bus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annette Kuhn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until the 1920s, Harrow<\/a> was little more than a village ten miles or so outside London; but by the end of 1910 the area already boasted three cinemas, two of which survived into the 1920s and beyond. In 1920, at the start of a population boom that was to rapidly transform a semi-rural area into a suburb of the metropolis, they were joined by two more: The Electric Cinema in Station Road and the Elite Picture House in Harrow-on-the Hill. In the mid 1920s the Electric Cinema became a live theatre, re-opening as the Harrow Coliseum. The Elite, however, continued as a picture house, and by the end of 1931 had undergone a makeover, the installation of a sound system being followed by a range of other improvements: \u201cMachines and projectors have been brought up-to-date, enabling clear and perfect pictures to be shown\u2026. A new canopy has been erected\u2026and those who unfortunately have to wait in a queue can do so under dry conditions should the weather be adverse.\u2026 All the seats are constantly overhauled, thus ensuring perfect comfort for all\u2026.\u201d Even the staff had been spruced up: \u201cThe girl attendants have been provided with new and attractive uniforms, while two uniformed page boys are in attendance in the vestibule to attend to the wants of patrons.\u201d (Harrow Observer<\/em>, 13 November 1931) Meanwhile, the cinema had acquired a new name: the aspirational-sounding Elite was now the more approachable Cosy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Cosy Cinema in 1931, with page boys and canopy<\/p><\/div>\n

In April 1930, the Elite\u2019s management had posted an announcement on the front page of the local newspaper: a \u00a350 prize was being offered for a new name: \u201cShould more than one competitor submit the title used, the prize money will be divided.\u201d (Harrow Observer<\/em>, 25 April 1930) The result was revealed just a few weeks later: \u201cThe new name competition was an enormous success and the winning title is COSY CINEMA. An invitation to visit the cinema and receive the prize money will be sent to the successful competitors.\u201d (Harrow Observer<\/em>, 9 May 1930)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Harrow Observer, 9 May 1930<\/p><\/div>\n

Interviewed in the 1990s, two of the Harrow participants in Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain recall the Elite\u2019s renaming.<\/p>\n

In the course of a series of interviews at her home, arranged by Harrow Public Library Housebound Readers\u2019 Service, Nancy Carrington<\/a> mentions the Elite\/Cosy competition more than once. On 7 July 1995, for instance (NC-95-196AT001):<\/p>\n

Nancy Carrington: <\/strong>\u2026The Cosy Cinema. On the Hill. And my niece named that. She got five\u00a0shillings in the old money.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong>\u00a0Really!?<\/p>\n

NC:<\/strong>\u00a0For naming that cinema. She had to guess. It was a–<\/p>\n

Sue Nicholls [Housebound Readers\u2019 Service]:<\/strong>\u00a0She had to guess what, Nancy?<\/p>\n

NC:<\/strong>\u00a0Guess the name of the cinema. And they\u00a0chose the Cosy.<\/p>\n

SN:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n

NC:<\/strong>\u00a0Obviously. So she got the money for it.<\/p>\n

Int:<\/strong>\u00a0Right.<\/p>\n

NC:<\/strong>\u00a0She chose the Cosy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mrs Carrington\u2019s niece\u2019s five-shilling win suggests that the \u00a350 pound prize had been divided between two hundred successful competitors.<\/p>\n

Olga Scowen<\/a> (OS-95-190AT001, 6 July 1995) also hints that the Cosy was actually far from cosy: \u201c\u2026The Cosy on the Hill. It was\u00a0called the Elite at one time. They had a competition for somebody to suggest a\u00a0name. And somebody suggested ‘Cosy’. Well\u00a0I would never\u00a0have called it that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a unique selling point another of the Cosy\u2019s innovations, \u201cthe luxurious Cosy coach\u2026which runs regularly at intervals of a quarter-of-an-hour to convey patrons to the top of the hill\u201d (Harrow Observer<\/em>, 13 November 1931), is especially memorable. At a time when there was little or no public transport in the area, the Cosy\u2019s shuttle-bus service spared filmgoers the energy-sapping trek up Harrow Hill to get to the cinema:<\/p>\n

Olga Scowen: <\/strong>And erm, so\u00a0anyway, when you wanted to go to the Cosy Cinema, you either had to walk or go\u00a0on\u00a0this little bus. And when we walked it was pretty steep up the last bit. And\u00a0I can remember my sister pushing my mother–<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong>\u00a0[laughs]<\/p>\n

OS:<\/strong>\u00a0To get her up the hill. I mean we were that keen to go to the\u00a0cinema that we’d do that.\u00a0(OS-95-190AT001, 6 July 1995)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bus is remembered as offering a door-to-door service:<\/p>\n

Nancy Carrington: <\/strong>[The bus] \u2026 used to come out of the Cosy cinema, all the way round Harrow, and all the way. Right the way round till they got down here and then they used to drop us off practically at our houses. (NC-95-196AT002, 25 July 1995)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And its circular route is keenly, if effortfully, recollected:<\/p>\n

Ashley Bird<\/a>: <\/strong>And I don’t know whether anybody told you, erm, when\u00a0they changed it to the Cosy, they used to have a bus that served it only.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong>\u00a0Really?<\/p>\n

AB:<\/strong>\u00a0It used to come down from the cinema, down\u00a0Roxeth Hill, into what they call\u00a0Roxeth Corner. Erm, and it used to pick up people there, come on down into\u00a0Harrow in [pause 2 seconds] College Road now, pick up people there. And, [pause\u00a02 seconds] then go round, and stop outside the posh cinema, [laughs] in Harrow,\u00a0the Coliseum, which is now a Gateway. And as kids we always, that was always\u00a0very posh. You didn’t go there unless you were rich.<\/p>\n

Int:<\/strong>\u00a0[laughs]<\/p>\n

AB:<\/strong>\u00a0This little bus used to stop outside, pinch customers, from there,\u00a0take them up the Hill.<\/p>\n

Int:<\/strong>\u00a0Really? So a door-to-door service?<\/p>\n

AB:<\/strong>\u00a0That’s right.<\/p>\n

Int:<\/strong>\u00a0Mhm.<\/p>\n

AB:<\/strong>\u00a0Of course, people used to come out of work erm, Friday evenings, and do it,\u00a0you know.<\/p>\n

Int:<\/strong>\u00a0So was that all included in the price of your ticket?<\/p>\n

AB:<\/strong>\u00a0Eh, it was a free bus, yes.\u00a0 (AB-95-198AT001, 12 July 1995)<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Gwen Curnick<\/a>:<\/strong>\u00a0And that one, that one that was up on a hill. Eh, they used to run a free\u00a0bus service.<\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong>\u00a0Really?<\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. Erm, I don’t know whether you can remember just where it went but it,\u00a0it —<\/p>\n

Fred Curnick:<\/strong>\u00a0It came down [pause 2 seconds] along the High Road, down\u00a0Roxeth Hill, then\u00a0along [pause 2 seconds] Lower Road, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n

FC:<\/strong>\u00a0Along Lower Road, Bessborough Road to Roxborough Bridge, over Roxborough\u00a0Bridge, down, erm, [pause 3 seconds] that one’s College Road, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong>\u00a0College Road, yes.<\/p>\n

FC:<\/strong>\u00a0To the foot of College Road, then it turned right, and actually went in\u00a0front of the Coliseum.<\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong>\u00a0Coliseum. Yes, that’s right.<\/p>\n

FC:<\/strong>\u00a0Erm, and then back up the Hill, up Peterborough Road.<\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n

FC:<\/strong>\u00a0Up to the top of the Hill and along the High Road again to the cinema.<\/p>\n

Int:<\/strong>\u00a0Ah.<\/p>\n

FC:<\/strong>\u00a0And eh, it done that [pause 3 seconds] evening, didn’t it? It wasn’t, it, it\u00a0kept going round like that and you could get on it anywhere and go up to the\u00a0Hill or you could come down.\u00a0(GC-95-191AT001, 5 July 1995)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sadly, there appears to be no photograph of the Cosy bus in existence. In 1934 the Cosy changed its name once again, becoming the Carlton, which closed in September 1937 under something of a cloud (Harrow Observer and Gazette<\/a><\/em>, 4 August 1939). Today, the Elite, the Cosy, the Cosy bus and the Carlton are slipping from living memory into history, the only trace of their former existence being the name of the building that now occupies their site on High Street, Harrow-on-the-Hill: Carlton House.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Carlton House, Harrow-on-the-Hill, April 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

_________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Materials from the Harrow local press are reproduced courtesy of Headstone Manor and Museum. \u00a9 London Borough of Harrow.<\/p>\n

The interviews referred to can be accessed as both audio and transcript via the\u00a0CMDA website.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0These can also be consulted in physical form in the Cinema Memory Archive (CMA) at ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ, by appointment with\u00a0Special Collections<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Other relevant CMA assets include:<\/p>\n