Tudor Cinema

Located in the Newfoundpool district to the west of the city centre. In 2019 the Leicester Mercury gave the dates of the Tudor Cinema as April 1914 to 1958; but incorrectly located it in Tudor Road. The Tudor Cinema is not listed in the Kinematograph Year Book 1914. In November 1914 The Bioscope described the it as ‘spacious’ with the largest screen in the town; and in December gave the seating as 1,250. It was designed by Leicester based architect H. Langley.

Throughout its 40-plus years, the Tudor Cinema was operated by Leicester Pictures Ltd. of 4 Horsefair Street.

KYB 1931 has the earliest mention of a sound system. It was British Talking Pictures(BTP), and remained so for the life of the cinema. The first ‘talkie to be screened here was Ronald Colman in “Bulldog Drummond”. KYB 1954 describes the screen as 23ft by 17ft.

In the Leicester Chronicle in March 1977 someone reminisced about the Saturday children’s matinee at the Tudor Cinema, reporting that they were issued with ‘metal tickets’ shaped according to the seating area. In 1960 someone recalled that the silents had piano accompaniment (but sometimes with someone singing); and someone-else recalled the first talkie was ‘Sunny Side Up’ (a 1929 Fox musical with Janet Gaynor). It was equipped with CinemaScope in 1955 and the first film screened in that process was Howard Keel in “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers”.

After closure in 1958, it was a warehouse before eventual demolition. The site is now dwellings fronting Vaughan Street and Hoby Street which were built in 1992.

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