Rialto Cinema

Fishergate,
York,

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A replacement for an earlier Rialto Cinema destroyed by fire, the Rialto Cinema opened on November 25, 1935 with "Gold Diggers of 1935". It had 1,800 seats, was designed by Frederick Dyer and had a proscenium 45ft wide. The Rialto Cinema was equipped with a Compton 3Manual 5 Ranks organ, which was opened by Hal Sherwin.

The wide proscenium came in handy when CinemaScope was installed in 1955, when the opening accommodated a massive 42ft by 20ft screen.

Originally there were four tall narrow fins running up the facade and above the parapet between the windows in the central block. These have been removed to the detriment of the building.

There was a shallow stage which was used infrequently. The last film was shown on 15th October 1961 with William Holden in “The World of Suzi Wong”. The Rialto Cinema went over to bingo which it continued to be used for until its closure in 2002 as a Mecca Bingo Club. In 2003, the former Rialto Cinema was demolished to make way for a car park for a new Mecca Bingo Club nearby.

Contributed by Ian Grundy

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

TimAddyman
TimAddyman on April 6, 2003 at 5:43 am

Demolition begins on 7th of April 2003, as the new bingo hall is now open next door. The site will become a car park. The building has been heavily altered inside for bingo but retained the huge proscenium and original seating in the circle.

TimAddyman
TimAddyman on October 7, 2003 at 1:53 pm

Sadly noting remains of this impressive super cinema. It was demolished in June and the site is now a car park for the bingo hall next door.

Ian
Ian on March 14, 2007 at 2:00 pm

A couple more pictures of the rialto – including the huge proscenium mentioned above by Tim:–

View link

View link

Ian
Ian on February 5, 2008 at 7:53 am

Two more, earlier pictures here:–

View link

View link

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 29, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Here is a March 1963 poster:
http://tinyurl.com/lmzkpy

lostmemory
lostmemory on August 29, 2009 at 5:43 pm

I saw that but I couldn’t convince myself to post it. LOL

tonyk
tonyk on January 10, 2012 at 1:40 am

The Rialto and Clifton cinemas in York were once owned and run by Jack Prendergast, father of film composer, John Barry.

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