JOIN the Daily Echo on a trip back to 1976 with this selection of images.

Some of us may even remember how things looked 46 years ago.

Many of the locations shown are instantly recognisable despite plenty of changes having been made in the years since.
Bournemouth Echo:

Regal Cinema, Ringwood was first converted to a cinema in 1914 and remained one until 1959, when it transferred to live shows and film performances.

By 1964 it was operating only one night a week as a cinema and it finally closed in 1972, when it was turned into what was a short-lived shopping arcade.

In 1975 the ground floor became a restaurant and the top floor became a nightclub and in the decades that followed it was the venue for a succession of nightclubs.

Bournemouth Echo:

Bournemouth Pier Approach – home to the Pier Approach Swimming Baths and their live Aqua Shows.

The baths were bulldozed in 1986 to make way for the controversial IMAX.

Since then, it has been transformed into an adventure golf course, which officially opened to the public in 2019.

The small white building of the Rothesay Museum can be seen just behind the Pavilion Theatre on the left. It housed a unique collection of typewriters.


Bournemouth Echo:

This image shows Dolcis shoe shop on the Commercial Road side of Bournemouth Square.

The town wasn't alone in losing its Dolcis store – the brand is now online only.


Continue the tour in the picture gallery above.