Raby Grand Cinema

In the Byker district of Newcastle upon Tyne the Raby Cinema opened in January 1910 at the junction of Commercial Road and Oban Road. In 1930, the seating capacity was reported to be 823: 450 in the pit, 195 in the stalls and 178 in the circle.

From January 1911 until early in 1913 the Raby Cinema was run by Robert Scott, of “Scott’s Perfect Pictures”, showing “best varieties and pictures” at seat prices of 2d to 6d. In 1913 it was taken over by James A. Lauder then, in 1917, by Joseph Broughton and William R. Marshall, later trading as the Castle Cinema Company. The Raby Cinema had a manageress, Mrs A. M. Moffatt, from 1919 to 1923, a rarity in the city at the time.

Edibell sound was installed in 1930, with one of the first ‘talkies’ being “In Old Arizona”, starring Edmund Lowe and Warner Baxter. It appears to have been around this time when the cinema started being referred to as the ‘Raby Grand’. It is not known whether this was a ‘formal’ change of name, but it is listed from the 1934 edition if Kinematograph Year Book as the Raby Grand Cinema (with a slightly reduced seating capacity of 800).

In the early-1950’s the seating was described as “very poor” and a slow decline in attendances began. CinemaScope could not be installed, due to the narrow auditorium.

The inevitable came along on 7th March 1959, when the Raby Grand Cinema closed. It re-opened as a bingo club in 1961, but that eventually closed and the building lay empty for some years before being demolished in mid-1989.

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