Floral Hall Picture Theatre

Located in Leicester city centre. The original Floral Hall was built in 1876 as the Floral Hall Skating Rink. It had its main entrance on Mansfield Street. It actually opened with a concert, which was followed the next week by a Grand Cirque & Hippodrome, and after some use as a live theatre, known as the New Theatre of Varieties, and then an indoor market, it finally became a skating rink in 1879. It was demolished in 1900, and the Leicester Palace Theatre was built on part of the site by Oswald Stoll.

The Floral Hall Picture Theatre was built by Oswald Stoll and opened on 26th December 1910. The narrow entrance (adjacent to the Leicester Palace Theatre built in 1901) on Belgrave Gate had a Moorish style façade to match the Leicester Palace Theatre. It had a long narrow passage which led to the auditorium, which was built at the rear of the Leicester Palace Theatre on Mansfield Street. The auditorium had a capacity for 700, all on a single level.

In 1913, a balcony was added, increasing the seating capacity to 903. A Nicholson & Ward organ was installed, which was made by the organ builders based in Walsall. It was opened by organist Arthur Rawson. After Stoll died in 1942, the Stoll Circuit was managed by Prince Littler. The Floral Hall Picture Theatre was one of the cinemas in the city to install sound equipment, when in December 1930 a Picturetone sound system was installed. By 1938 it had been replaced by a British Talking Picture(BTP) installation.

The Floral Hall Picture Theatre was never equipped with CinemaScope, and closed in February 1959 with Anne Wiener Thompson in the (X) certificate film “The Young have no Time” (Danish aka Ung leg) starring Ghita Norby & “The House in the Woods” starring Ronald Howard. It became a warehouse for the shoe manufacturer Stead & Simpson, who had their factory & head office almost next door in Belgrave Gate.

The Floral Hall Picture Theatre followed the Leicester Palace Theatre (demolished early-1960’s) was demolished in the late-1960’s, and a parade of shops was built on the combined site.

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