Cinema

Located in Eyemouth, a small town in Berwickshire, about eight miles north of Berwick-on-Tweed, the Picture House opened in 1919, a conversion of a church.

By 1927 it was operated by the Border Cinema Company. They continued until 1941, when A. J. McCallum, of Edinburgh, took over. For the first time, a sound system (British Thomson-Houston) was declared in the Kinematograph Year Books. It was also noted that the proscenium was 30ft wide and there were 500 seats.

In 1946 Messrs Redpath and Stoddart, of the Drill Hall Cinema, Wooler, Northumberland (see separate Cinema Treasures entry) acquired the Picture House. Presumably they carried out some modernisation, as the seating capacity reduced to 300.

The Picture House certainly enjoyed a long life. By 1980 (according to the Cinema Theatre Association’s Directory of Cinemas) it was being called the Cinema and was owned by Berwickshire District Council. The seating had reduced further, to 220.

In January 1991 the council contacted the Cinema’s [un-named] tenants, saying that they had no right to sub-let the premises - and that the gates to the car park should be left open or unlocked when the cinema is in use.

Presumably the tenants moved out, and no one came forward to take on the lease, as the Cinema closed in 1991.

The council started discussing what to do with the building. Then, in October 1994, The Rotary Club of Eyemouth and District stepped forward. They said that, if the council would provide a new, long-play projector (it was still on 20 minute change-overs), bring the building up to the standard required for a fire certificate and carry out other necessary repairs, they would run it, largely using their volunteers.

This offer was accepted, and the council pledged £10,000 towards the necessary works. Easter 1995 was set as the target for the Cinema to re-open.

However, this initiative stalled. In July 1996, the Rotary Club was still looking into it, with the problem being that the revamp was now projected to cost around £900,000.

In the meantime, the building had been used as a roller skating rink, a bingo hall, a children’s indoor play centre and for “small” discos. (Since 1996 it had been owned by Scottish Borders Council.)

In August 2000 the building was offered for sale for £18,000. It was subsequently demolished and a block of Housing Association flats was built on the site. Church Court opened in 2002.

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