Queen's Cinema

Located on Avenue Street, off Great Portwood Street near Stockport town centre. The Gem Picture Palace was opened 12th January 1912. It had seating for less than 500, initially all on wooden benches. Over the years it had several owners, and in April 1919 it was re-named Queen’s Cinema. It was probably the last of Stockport’s cinemas to convert to sound, when an AWH sound system was installed around 1932.

The Queen’s Cinema closed on 6th October 1934 and was converted into a boxing hall. This was not a success, and under new ownership it re-opened as the New Queen’s Cinema on 1st April 1935 with Charles Bickford in “The Red Wagon” and variety acts on the stage. It only lasted a few weeks, and was then closed again. Another operator took over and it re-opened on 16th September 1935 showing older films which had already played in the town.

The last operator took over in November 1938 and he put a neon sign on the front of the building. The Queen’s Cinema was closed in early-1940.

After standing unused through World War II, it was taken over by a chemical company in 1945 and used as a warehouse. By the late-1980’s the entrance was in use as a car repair shop (which is still there in 2015) and the auditorium was used by a printing firm. In recent years the auditorium was used by kitchen suppliers as a showroom, but that part of the building was burnt out by a fire around 2013? and they have now relocated.

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