In the 1970s, the first signs of possible closure reared its head, the stalls were closed off, cuts to staffing were made and the organ fell silent.

Once again falling audiences, possibly due to the development of multi-screen cinemas and the rising popularity of video film rental saw the State threatened with closure in the mid 1980s.

Owners Mecca eventually left the building, a closing night event was held on 5 September 1988 and the film that opened the cinema 50 years ago to the day was shown once more.

[2] The land and the cinema were earmarked for redevelopment and bulldozers were soon brought in, however a preservation order was quickly sought and the State became a Grade II listed building preventing its demolition.

More live music, a number of variety and film shows plus several boxing matches were held at the venue, and the club also saw the return of the Sunday organ concerts.

[4] The same month Thurrock Council gave planning permission to supermarket chain Morrisons to build a store on the State's old car park after purchasing the site for £10 million.

[7] In 2003, Morrisons conducted a survey of the State and found the cinema still to be "structurally in sound condition and built to a good standard."

The report continued: "Of major concern however, is the damage being caused to the building by water ingress through defective roof covering and through the walls due to a defective rainwater drainage system and cracked or missing mortar caps to walls" and "many of the internal fixtures and fittings are also suffering decay due to the water ingress."

[11] The most recent campaign pressured the current owners to release a statement to BBC Radio Essex on 11 February 2008 claiming that they had worked with English Heritage and the building was now watertight, dry and clean inside and the organ had been fully restored.

[8] However, more recent investigations by members of the Save the State campaign have found that the roof does in fact still leak (as of March 2008 when a council inspection was undertaken) and that although the organ works to a certain extent, it has not been "fully restored".

[13] In front of the centre of the stage is a fully illuminated three manual 6 rank Compton organ which is able to rise from the orchestra pit on a lift.

Included in this burglary were all but a handful of the Compton organ's original pipes, virtually worthless as scrap as they are formed of an alloy which would require costly processing to release the constituent metals, but worth around £10,000 to replace with remade equivalents.