Gaiety Picture House

Located a short distance to the northeast of the city centre in the Aston district. The Rodney Inn was operated by Henry Holder, who built a concert hall behind the hotel. It opened on 24th June 1846 and was named Holders Concert Hall. In 1871 it was taken over by new management and re-named Birmingham Concert Hall. In 1886 it became the Gaiety Concert Hall. In 1897 it was re-named Gaiety Theatre of Varieties. In 1912 it was managed by T. Allan Edwardes of Derby. By 1920 it was operated by Ben Kennedy, who closed it later that year. It was equipped with an organ, which was played by a Mr. Sota.

It re-opened as the Gaiety Picture House and by 1927 was operated by C.D. Cinemas Ltd. In 1936 an explosion in the projection box closed the cinema. Just before the explosion, a former projectionist who had been fired, returned to collect his belongings unsupervised. He put a lighted cigarette into a film can, causing the explosion. The cinema never re–opened.

Associated British Cinemas took over the site and the Gaiety Picture House was demolished to build a new Gaiety Cinema, which opened on 17th December 1939. (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures as the ABC Coleshill Street.)

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