Essoldo Crook

Bankfoot Road,
Crook, DL15

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terry
terry on September 5, 2020 at 7:07 pm

I could not make out the number on the smoke-box but you are spot on as the BR design began with 80 ;)

michaelbrent
michaelbrent on September 5, 2020 at 10:28 am

It’s a fairburn tank engine ;)

terry
terry on September 1, 2020 at 8:49 pm

This Essoldo plus two others in Spennymoor and Shildon all closed on the same evening in 1969. Shildon Essoldo, by far the smallest of the three venues, bowed out with a week of James Bond films including ‘Goldfinger’ which I believe was the last to be screened. I wonder if Essoldo Ltd also booked these for the other two cinemas?

terry
terry on September 1, 2020 at 8:36 pm

3 photos uploaded of the Essoldo when it was still open. One shows the theatre in its ‘heyday’ as the Hippodrome whilst another taken in the early 1960’s features the adjacent railway line (which went to Bishop Auckland) with a British Railways ‘Standard Class 4 2-6-4’ tank loco running ‘light engine’. Small market towns like Crook somehow seemed ‘lost’ after their cinemas and rail connections ceased to be……