In “Life In Victorian Preston” by David John Hindle he writes: “The first moving pictures in Burnley were shown in 1908 at the Andrews' Picture House”.
THE EMPRESS OPENED IN 1912: At a licensing magistrates' hearing on Wednesday 11 December 1912 the magistrates considered Joseph Bradley’s application for a “cinematograph licence for the premises, Empress Picture House, in Sandy Gate”. Bradley already had a music licence.
“The cinematograph licence was granted until December 31st.”
THE ENLARGEMENT WAS 1919/20: The first licence application to enlarge the Empress was heard on Wednesday 14 June 1919. The architect for the work was Mr G Keighley. “It was intended to make the balcony circular, and the alterations would, amongst other things, provide two additional exits both from the gallery (note: ‘gallery’) and from the building”. Seating would increase by 150. The decision was postponed two weeks for the architect to submit full plans, not just the alterations. The works had been done by February 1920.
The pointer on the map is on the wrong (i.e. north east) part of what was Sandygate.
Today (2015), Sandygate has a T junction with Trafalgar Street. Previously, this was a cross roads with Sandygate continuing, south west, up the hill past Coal Clough Lane to the junction at the Angel Inn. Most of this stretch of Sandygate has gone; and what remains is now part of Burnham Gate.
Web sites of Burnley people reminiscing have mentions of the Empress being “near the Angel Inn”, “at the junction of Coal Clough Lane and Burnham Gate”, and next to the “Duckett Sanitaryware complex”. In the streetview (2014?), the low, red, industrial unit is on the sanitaryware complex site; the higher, grey industrial shed is more than likely on the site of the Empress.
The Kinematograph Year Book for 1957 has the cinema trading as the Majestic, owned by Albert Bass. The sound system is Gaumont-British Duosonic and there is a CinemaScope screen of 26ft by 16ft in the 27ft wide proscenium.
The old building is referred to as a former “Church of England Mission Hall” in a newspaper report of the opening of the new building in February 1921. The architect of the latter was a “Mr A A Bell of Cannon Street, Burnley”; and its projectors were Kalee Indomitables.
At a licensing magistrates' hearing on Wednesday 11 December 1912 the Alhambra management made application for clause 38 of their music licence to be deleted. This prohibited singing entertainment which they had been providing between films; to the Chief Constable’s disapproval.
Oddly, the Burnley Gazette reported that the bench permitted the deletion until the next renewal at the end of March 1913; the Burnley News reported that the Alhambra’s request was rejected but the matter would be reviewed at licence renewal.
The Tivoli owners had expected to be ready to be given a licence at the licencing magistrates' hearing on 11 December 1912, but the cinema was incomplete (seats had not arrived) and the application was adjourned sine die.
The Tivoli was given the necessary licences from the magistrates on Wednesday 5 February 1913.
“Mr Mossop, in making the application, said that the premises were built, completed and ready for opening. The building was of brick and stone, with cement floors and slated roof, and was an absolutely up-to-date theatre in every possible convenience, well furnished and capable of holding 1050.”
The licence was given until the end of March 1913 when all cinematograph licences in Burnley would be up for renewal.
At the same hearing, the ubiquitous architect William Heap provided plans for an 820 seat cinema to be built in Parliament Street (no name given). The applicant was a Mr N Tomlinson ‘chemist and druggist’ of Gannow Lane. The Bench decided they had no powers to award a licence for premises at only the plan stage; and they expressed the opinion that there were sufficient halls in that area already.
It was Standard Cinema Properties Ltd of Birmingham who ran the cinema under the Regal name, starting around August 1930.
By October 1933, local paper adverts for the cinema had reverted to using the Pentridge name.
In the Kinematograph Year Book 1935 the owners are New Empire (Burnley) Ltd, based at the Empire cinema on St James' Street. It was reported in the local newspaper on 15 November 1933 that New Empire (Burnley) had acquired the Pentridge (by that name), along with 4 other cinemas from Mr J Bradley who was suffering ill-health. The company had also tried to acquire the Savoy, but the owners preferred to lease it to a Liverpool operator, Harry Buxton.
“Apply Marshall, 164 St James-st, Burnley”: this implies that Marshall owned (or was part-owner of) the Alhambra as well as the Ruskin Hall. He was unable to open the Alhambra as a cinema as he’d leased the Ruskin Hall to “Hayes and Moore” who, effectively, held the cinema licences for that part of Trafalgar Street until late April 1912.
The first Burnley cinema with (regular) talkie equipment was the Pentridge. They installed Electrocord which opened with Bebe Daniels in ‘Hot News’ on 20 May 1929. The Savoy ran a spoiler in the local paper, pointing out that they had tried a sound system about 18 months earlier but found it unsatisfactory so were therefore paying top-price for the WE system. So they were the second (regular) talkie cinema. The Imperial was the third (16 Sept) with BTP equipment.
The tagged-on front contrasts with the auditorium (an original mill building) behind it (see the thickness of the mill wall in that upper opening in the flank).
There is a blue board blocking a side exit, which is at the rear semi-cross-aisle of the stalls. ( The aisle didn’t ‘cross’ the back of the stalls because the projection room sat in the middle.)
I’m speculating: perhaps the original configuration was that the 1910 cinema was at the ground level with the (roller) skating rink on an upper floor. The skating business/fad passed so the cinema was knocked through into the upper floors to facilitate adding a balcony. Adding the extension on the front released extra space in the original building for auditorium use.
The reference to works done in 1912 and 1917 was taken from a Burnley Council document dated 2004. I now suspect this is incorrect.
What is definite is that the Pentridge reopened on Thursday 25 March 1920 having been extensively remodelled and enlarged (a balcony) and re-fronted to the designs of William Heap whose Imperial, a new build, had opened about 9 weeks earlier. The layout (balcony, projection room, orchestra gallery, etc) and style are very similar in both cinemas.
The Burnley News report of Saturday 27 March 1920 (see other photos) gave the new capacity as 384 in the ‘balcony’ and 833 in the ‘pit’: total 1217. A number of rear ‘pit’ seats had poor sight-lines because of balcony-support columns.
The Pentridge cinema building became the EMBASSY CLUB in the early 1960s with gaming tables (roulette, blackjack, etc) and live entertainment (‘blue'comedians and strippers). It was operated by a Norman Smith who also ran the Black Knight Club at Waterfoot in Rossendale.
Many cinemas went down the gaming/adult-entertainment route in the early 1960s, becoming Embassies and Fiestas, but their businesses were adversely affected by the Gaming Act 1968 which ended the more laissez-faire gambling regime.
Sound came on Monday 16 September 1929 with ‘The Perfect Alibi’. The sound system was BTP. The Imperial’s advertising would have left the casual reader believing that it was a Western Electric system! The system was upgraded (by BTP) and debuted on 25 January 1937. The Pentridge was first in Burnley (20 May 1929), the Savoy second (26 August 1929) and the Imperial third (16 September 1929). The Savoy had trialled an unsuccessful system nearly two years previously.
‘Wide Screen’ came on Monday 21 November 1955 with John Wayne in “The High and The Mighty”.
Closure came on Saturday 29 October 1960 with Carry On Constable.
Demolition was in August 2006; after which Imperial Court Apartments were built.
The original proprietors, Gannow Pictures Ltd, derived their trading name from the locality being known as Gannow Top. The “Gannow Tunnel” for the Leeds-Liverpool canal passes almost immediately below the site.
Redruth Street was the Imperial’s advertised address as the cinema entrance faced straight down Redruth Street and was visible from the busy Padiham Road at the other end.
The canopy was removed many years before demolition. The historic buildings surveyor, called in whilst initial preparations for demolition were in hand, observed the canopy anchor points and reported them to be metal ties holding the circle structure to the Shale Street wall.
When erected, the cinema must have deprived the adjacent houses of much daylight.
The entrance block was obviously aligned to face straight down the length of Redruth Street to the busy Padiham Road, from where it was visible to passing trade. Hence, why the Imperial always advertised as being on Redruth Street and not Shale Street.
There was one show that day, at 7-15 pm:
Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh and William Fox in “The Magnet” (U)
“Also News and Full Supporting Prog.”
This is an early photo. The auditorium lighting is indirect using wall recesses, coves and domes. When I frequented the Gaumont, as it was in the 1950s/early 60s, a large chandelier hung from the centre of the large dome, with subsidiary ones in the the smaller domes. The cove-lights in the domes were gone. There were still the three coves of light bulbs (a colossal number in total) in the proscenium frames. The curtains/tabs were deep red with three horizontal bands of gold towards the bottom. We sat in the (cheap) front stalls. When the curtains parted a Niagara of cold air rolled down off the stage into the front stalls area.
During the demolition in May 2009 a local woman wanted to salvage the art deco tiles but the demolition contractors were not prepared to allow or assist in any way. The tiles were destroyed. I suspect the “Regent” in blue and white glass went the same way.
The site of the former Majestic is now (2014) that of the of the offices of the Marsden Building Society.
The demolition information is also incorrect, according to Mercia Cinema Society’s “Chronicles of Pendle’s Picture Palaces” which quotes an article in the local newspaper ‘The Nelson Leader’ of 30 June 1961.
Star Cinemas were to acquire local cinema chain Victory Theatres, but the Majestic was to be sold to the Marsden Building Society as the site for their new HQ (which it is; see Street View). The cinema closed on Saturday 8 July 1961 with Jerry Lewis in ‘Cinderfella’ and Bob Hope in ‘The Paleface’.
In “Life In Victorian Preston” by David John Hindle he writes: “The first moving pictures in Burnley were shown in 1908 at the Andrews' Picture House”.
The Alhambra site had become a car wash, not a filling station.
THE EMPRESS OPENED IN 1912: At a licensing magistrates' hearing on Wednesday 11 December 1912 the magistrates considered Joseph Bradley’s application for a “cinematograph licence for the premises, Empress Picture House, in Sandy Gate”. Bradley already had a music licence.
“The cinematograph licence was granted until December 31st.”
THE ENLARGEMENT WAS 1919/20: The first licence application to enlarge the Empress was heard on Wednesday 14 June 1919. The architect for the work was Mr G Keighley. “It was intended to make the balcony circular, and the alterations would, amongst other things, provide two additional exits both from the gallery (note: ‘gallery’) and from the building”. Seating would increase by 150. The decision was postponed two weeks for the architect to submit full plans, not just the alterations. The works had been done by February 1920.
The pointer on the map is on the wrong (i.e. north east) part of what was Sandygate.
Today (2015), Sandygate has a T junction with Trafalgar Street. Previously, this was a cross roads with Sandygate continuing, south west, up the hill past Coal Clough Lane to the junction at the Angel Inn. Most of this stretch of Sandygate has gone; and what remains is now part of Burnham Gate.
Web sites of Burnley people reminiscing have mentions of the Empress being “near the Angel Inn”, “at the junction of Coal Clough Lane and Burnham Gate”, and next to the “Duckett Sanitaryware complex”. In the streetview (2014?), the low, red, industrial unit is on the sanitaryware complex site; the higher, grey industrial shed is more than likely on the site of the Empress.
The ‘sunday-school-like building’ was, in fact, a Wesleyan Chapel.
The Kinematograph Year Book for 1957 has the cinema trading as the Majestic, owned by Albert Bass. The sound system is Gaumont-British Duosonic and there is a CinemaScope screen of 26ft by 16ft in the 27ft wide proscenium.
The old building is referred to as a former “Church of England Mission Hall” in a newspaper report of the opening of the new building in February 1921. The architect of the latter was a “Mr A A Bell of Cannon Street, Burnley”; and its projectors were Kalee Indomitables.
At a licensing magistrates' hearing on Wednesday 11 December 1912 the Alhambra management made application for clause 38 of their music licence to be deleted. This prohibited singing entertainment which they had been providing between films; to the Chief Constable’s disapproval.
Oddly, the Burnley Gazette reported that the bench permitted the deletion until the next renewal at the end of March 1913; the Burnley News reported that the Alhambra’s request was rejected but the matter would be reviewed at licence renewal.
The Tivoli owners had expected to be ready to be given a licence at the licencing magistrates' hearing on 11 December 1912, but the cinema was incomplete (seats had not arrived) and the application was adjourned sine die.
The Tivoli was given the necessary licences from the magistrates on Wednesday 5 February 1913.
“Mr Mossop, in making the application, said that the premises were built, completed and ready for opening. The building was of brick and stone, with cement floors and slated roof, and was an absolutely up-to-date theatre in every possible convenience, well furnished and capable of holding 1050.”
The licence was given until the end of March 1913 when all cinematograph licences in Burnley would be up for renewal.
At the same hearing, the ubiquitous architect William Heap provided plans for an 820 seat cinema to be built in Parliament Street (no name given). The applicant was a Mr N Tomlinson ‘chemist and druggist’ of Gannow Lane. The Bench decided they had no powers to award a licence for premises at only the plan stage; and they expressed the opinion that there were sufficient halls in that area already.
It was Standard Cinema Properties Ltd of Birmingham who ran the cinema under the Regal name, starting around August 1930.
By October 1933, local paper adverts for the cinema had reverted to using the Pentridge name.
In the Kinematograph Year Book 1935 the owners are New Empire (Burnley) Ltd, based at the Empire cinema on St James' Street. It was reported in the local newspaper on 15 November 1933 that New Empire (Burnley) had acquired the Pentridge (by that name), along with 4 other cinemas from Mr J Bradley who was suffering ill-health. The company had also tried to acquire the Savoy, but the owners preferred to lease it to a Liverpool operator, Harry Buxton.
The building behind the stage block/tower IS the former Ruskin Hall.
“Apply Marshall, 164 St James-st, Burnley”: this implies that Marshall owned (or was part-owner of) the Alhambra as well as the Ruskin Hall. He was unable to open the Alhambra as a cinema as he’d leased the Ruskin Hall to “Hayes and Moore” who, effectively, held the cinema licences for that part of Trafalgar Street until late April 1912.
The operating room was at the rear of the stalls. To accommodate the extra equipment for talkies, the room was extended into the foyer.
Front pit patrons entered at a stage-end paybox/lobby in Red Lion Street.
The first Burnley cinema with (regular) talkie equipment was the Pentridge. They installed Electrocord which opened with Bebe Daniels in ‘Hot News’ on 20 May 1929. The Savoy ran a spoiler in the local paper, pointing out that they had tried a sound system about 18 months earlier but found it unsatisfactory so were therefore paying top-price for the WE system. So they were the second (regular) talkie cinema. The Imperial was the third (16 Sept) with BTP equipment.
The tagged-on front contrasts with the auditorium (an original mill building) behind it (see the thickness of the mill wall in that upper opening in the flank).
There is a blue board blocking a side exit, which is at the rear semi-cross-aisle of the stalls. ( The aisle didn’t ‘cross’ the back of the stalls because the projection room sat in the middle.)
I’m speculating: perhaps the original configuration was that the 1910 cinema was at the ground level with the (roller) skating rink on an upper floor. The skating business/fad passed so the cinema was knocked through into the upper floors to facilitate adding a balcony. Adding the extension on the front released extra space in the original building for auditorium use.
The reference to works done in 1912 and 1917 was taken from a Burnley Council document dated 2004. I now suspect this is incorrect.
What is definite is that the Pentridge reopened on Thursday 25 March 1920 having been extensively remodelled and enlarged (a balcony) and re-fronted to the designs of William Heap whose Imperial, a new build, had opened about 9 weeks earlier. The layout (balcony, projection room, orchestra gallery, etc) and style are very similar in both cinemas.
The Burnley News report of Saturday 27 March 1920 (see other photos) gave the new capacity as 384 in the ‘balcony’ and 833 in the ‘pit’: total 1217. A number of rear ‘pit’ seats had poor sight-lines because of balcony-support columns.
The Pentridge cinema building became the EMBASSY CLUB in the early 1960s with gaming tables (roulette, blackjack, etc) and live entertainment (‘blue'comedians and strippers). It was operated by a Norman Smith who also ran the Black Knight Club at Waterfoot in Rossendale.
Many cinemas went down the gaming/adult-entertainment route in the early 1960s, becoming Embassies and Fiestas, but their businesses were adversely affected by the Gaming Act 1968 which ended the more laissez-faire gambling regime.
Check the spelling of monster!
Sound came on Monday 16 September 1929 with ‘The Perfect Alibi’. The sound system was BTP. The Imperial’s advertising would have left the casual reader believing that it was a Western Electric system! The system was upgraded (by BTP) and debuted on 25 January 1937. The Pentridge was first in Burnley (20 May 1929), the Savoy second (26 August 1929) and the Imperial third (16 September 1929). The Savoy had trialled an unsuccessful system nearly two years previously.
‘Wide Screen’ came on Monday 21 November 1955 with John Wayne in “The High and The Mighty”.
Closure came on Saturday 29 October 1960 with Carry On Constable.
Demolition was in August 2006; after which Imperial Court Apartments were built.
The original proprietors, Gannow Pictures Ltd, derived their trading name from the locality being known as Gannow Top. The “Gannow Tunnel” for the Leeds-Liverpool canal passes almost immediately below the site.
Redruth Street was the Imperial’s advertised address as the cinema entrance faced straight down Redruth Street and was visible from the busy Padiham Road at the other end.
The canopy was removed many years before demolition. The historic buildings surveyor, called in whilst initial preparations for demolition were in hand, observed the canopy anchor points and reported them to be metal ties holding the circle structure to the Shale Street wall.
When erected, the cinema must have deprived the adjacent houses of much daylight.
The entrance block was obviously aligned to face straight down the length of Redruth Street to the busy Padiham Road, from where it was visible to passing trade. Hence, why the Imperial always advertised as being on Redruth Street and not Shale Street.
There was one show that day, at 7-15 pm: Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh and William Fox in “The Magnet” (U) “Also News and Full Supporting Prog.”
This is an early photo. The auditorium lighting is indirect using wall recesses, coves and domes. When I frequented the Gaumont, as it was in the 1950s/early 60s, a large chandelier hung from the centre of the large dome, with subsidiary ones in the the smaller domes. The cove-lights in the domes were gone. There were still the three coves of light bulbs (a colossal number in total) in the proscenium frames. The curtains/tabs were deep red with three horizontal bands of gold towards the bottom. We sat in the (cheap) front stalls. When the curtains parted a Niagara of cold air rolled down off the stage into the front stalls area.
During the demolition in May 2009 a local woman wanted to salvage the art deco tiles but the demolition contractors were not prepared to allow or assist in any way. The tiles were destroyed. I suspect the “Regent” in blue and white glass went the same way.
According to an elderly woman interviewed for the British Library Millennium Memory Bank sound archive, the Regent had a circle.
The site of the former Majestic is now (2014) that of the of the offices of the Marsden Building Society.
The demolition information is also incorrect, according to Mercia Cinema Society’s “Chronicles of Pendle’s Picture Palaces” which quotes an article in the local newspaper ‘The Nelson Leader’ of 30 June 1961.
Star Cinemas were to acquire local cinema chain Victory Theatres, but the Majestic was to be sold to the Marsden Building Society as the site for their new HQ (which it is; see Street View). The cinema closed on Saturday 8 July 1961 with Jerry Lewis in ‘Cinderfella’ and Bob Hope in ‘The Paleface’.