O2 Apollo Manchester

Located in the inner-city district of Ardwick Green, just to the south of Manchester city centre. Opened on 29th August 1938, the Apollo Theatre was built for an independent operator and was designed by architects Peter Cummings and Alex M. Irvine. The interior decorations were carried out by noted interior designers Mollo & Egan with the Holophane lighting designed by R. Gillespie Williams.

Seating was provided in the magnificent auditorium in stalls and circle levels. The proscenium was 53 feet wide and the stage was 40 feet deep. There were 12 dressing rooms for artists who appeared in the variety shows which acompanied the film perfomances. The Apollo Theatre was also equipped with a cafe and a ballroom.

It was taken over by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) from 31st January 1943. In April 1960, the World Premiere of the film “Hell is a City” starring Stanley Baker was held at the Apollo Manchester. The film was shot on location in nearby Levenshulme. The Apollo Manchester was re-named ABC Ardwick in 1962.

It was taken over by an independent operator from 30th January 1977 and began to stage pop concerts, with the occasional use for films to fill in dates. Eventually films were dropped.

This stunning Art Moderne style palace became owned by Apollo Leisure, followed by Live Nation. Now independently operated, it serves as a 2,693-seat capacity (3,500 with standing room) concert venue. The cafe and ballroom have been unused for several years.

The O2 Apollo Manchester is a Grade II Listed building.

Recent comments (view all 22 comments)

kencmcintyre on July 22, 2009 at 6:55 pm

There is a newspaper ad for “Hell is a City” at the Apollo about halfway down this site. I couldn’t figure out where most of the theaters were that they were discussing here.
http://www.levyboy.com/cinema.htm

terry on July 27, 2009 at 3:36 pm

Here is the link to The Beatles live at the ABC Theatre (as it was then) in 1963:–

View link

……..and here is a clip of the British première of ‘Hell is a City’ at the ABC Apollo (as it still was) in 1960:–

View link

laurajade18 on February 11, 2010 at 4:40 pm

I have been to the Apollo many times as a concert-goer, it was the first building to start my interest in old cinema buildings, it is absolutely stunning inside, fantastic surroundings to see a band in! So glad that it has been kept!

TLSLOEWS on February 25, 2010 at 11:12 am

Nice theatre and THE BEATLES played there.

Tinseltoes on July 18, 2010 at 1:32 pm

The Apollo Theatre, both inside and out, is prominently featured in “The Charming Man,” an episode of the popular British TV mystery series, “Blue Murder.” The plot concerns the murder of a rising pop singer soon after he gave a concert at the Apollo. In the USA at least, “The Charming Man” can be found on DVD in boxed Set 4 of “Blue Murder.” I don’t know if it’s packaged that way elsewhere.

davidstirzaker on July 21, 2011 at 8:04 am

ABC Ardwick used to be the District Office for the Manchester area

davidstirzaker on July 21, 2011 at 8:06 am

and the district number was J14.

The Beatles did indeed play there and Pathe News either did their first colour newsreel or cinemascope ratio for that concert

projectionman on October 23, 2011 at 2:43 am

i have worked at the apollo as a projectionist to show some of the pop concert films like pink floyd the wall and the song remains the same the projectors are ross gc3s on carbon arc and westrex valve sound i worked there in 1983

Ian on October 26, 2011 at 4:15 am

Some photos from 2004:–

EXTERIOR

AUDITORIUM FROM STAGE

AUDITORIUM TOWARDS STAGE

AUDITORIUM ACROSS

AUDITORIUM LOGES

eurotrampbaz on March 28, 2012 at 6:35 am

left here in 1982,also showed The song remains the same.