Hippodrome Cinema

In Wombwell, near Barnsley, in South Yorkshire at the junction of Hough Lane and Jardine Street. It was originally built as a skating rink which became a music hall named Hippodrome Theatre. It’s not known when the Hippodrome Picture Palace opened, but it is listed in the 1914 Kinematograph Year Book. Owned by George Stewart, there were 800 seats.

By 1923 the proprietor was the splendidly-named Hamlet Hope, while Herbert Collumbine had taken over by 1928, and “pictures and occasional variety” was being advertised.

In July 1931 a number of improvements were made, including the installation of a British Thomson Houston(BTH) sound system and a rebuild of the projection box, complete with new Kalee 8 projectors. A Westone screen was installed and the seating had been overhauled (interestingly, the report also remarked that “the best seats have been transferred to the balcony”). The stage was 11ft deep, the proscenium 18ft wide and there were two dressing rooms.

Unfortunately, all this effort appears to have been in vain, as the Hippodrome Cinema disappeared from the Kinematograph Year Books as early as 1934. It is not known when the Hippodrome Cinema closed as a cinema. It is known that it became home to the Wombwell Thespians and Amateur Dramatics Society for “a number of years”, but issues arose because its stage and backstage facilities were so limited.

In the beginning of World War II in 1939 it was used as a distribution centre for gas masks. It was demolished for an air raid shelter to be built on the site. since then housing has been built on the site.

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