Globe Cinema

In Padiham, some three miles from Burnley, Lancashire, it is not known when the Globe Cinema opened, although it was a fairly substantial building, suggesting the late-1910’s or early 1920’s (it was not listed in the 1914 Kinematograph Year Book).

The Globe Cinema did close in 1930, as an alternative to being wired for sound - the Grand Theatre, which I believe was under the same ownership, opened around the same time (see separate Cinema Treasures entry).

The building was subsequently used for a variety of entertainments, such as concerts, wrestling and plays by local amateur groups, then, at some time, it moved into commercial use. It is thought to have had a connection to engineering at some stage (it was known as Globe Works) but then became a furniture showroom.

On 8th January 1988, Robin Price, director of Facealpha Ltd., which operated a number of cinemas in the North West, including Studio 1, 2 & 3 in nearby Burnley (which, incidentally, closed that very month - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) put forward proposals to re-open the Globe Cinema.

He said the re-opened cinema would have 920 seats and would present live shows in addition to films. He also said he would be installing a cinema organ, which would rise majestically up; he apparently had one in storage in Lincolnshire.

Just a few weeks later, on 29th January, Mr Price announced that the “multi-thousand pound revamp” was well under way. Assuming Burnley Borough Council’s Planning Committee agreed to this change of use when it met on 4th February, the Globe Cinema would re-open on 12th February with Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. That was to run for two weeks, and be followed by the Mel Brooks comedy “Spaceballs” and then “Fatal Attraction”, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close.

The outcome of the Committee’s deliberations is not known. However, the February opening was postponed by Mr Price because internal work was not complete, then an opening in March was postponed because the Dolby Stereo sound system needed some remedial work.

No further opening dates were announced. Then, in July 1988, it was reported that the plans had reached a stalemate. The building owner, Hanley Building Company, claimed that Facealpha Ltd. had not signed their lease, while Mr Price said that Facealpha had not been paid for work it had completed. (Hanley Building Company had purchased the building at the end of 1987, and had been approached by Mr Price about re-opening it as a cinema. It had been agreed that Hanley Building Company would pay for the refurbishment, but the company was now disputing the amount of work that had been done, and how much it had cost.)

Both sides said they hoped to resolve the dispute but this proved not to be possible.

Somewhat ironically, just a few years later, in March 1992, the building received the Mayor’s Award for Excellence! It had been converted into commercial units, and the award was in recognition of “the high standard of internal and external refurbishment”. The building remains in this use.

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