Central Cinema
38 Market Place,
Pickering,
YO18
38 Market Place,
Pickering,
YO18
1 person
favorited this theater
You may be surprised to see a cinema such as the former Central Cinema on a site amidst so many gorgeous buildings but the current auction rooms in the centre of Pickering is a fairly complete, and now very rare, example of a small town ‘fleapit’.
Around 1919 it was converted from a low earlier building known as the Central Hall (which itself may have been an adaptation of an earlier building) with a new foyer and projection room tacked onto one end. This is known to have been sometime between 1913 and 1920. Half of the seating was on the flat (and may have been benches) with the rear portion tip up seats, many of which still remain.
The foyer was tiny, consisting of a paybox with doors to Ladies and Gents toilets off. The auditorium was long and narrow with a proscenium just 14 feet wide. The stage was 18ft deep and there were two dressing rooms. The Central Cinema accommodated 395 patrons. It was closed around 1967/1968.
Contributed by
Ian Grundy
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The Central Cinema closed c.1967/8 and is now in use as an auction room.
Owned by Jack Prendergast (father of film composer John Barry) and sold to Pentland Hick (managing director of Gaiety Cinema, Scarborough) in 1960.