3. Cinema-going and the built environment

The recent spatial turn in new cinema history has led to an increased interest in the relationship between sites of film exhibition and the built environment.¹ The outbreak of war brought the 1930s cinema building boom to an abrupt end as building restrictions prevented the construction of new premises. Many cinemas suffered physical damage and others went into disrepair as money and resources were diverted into the war effort. By 1946 there were 4,709 cinemas operating in Great Britain and a further 107 in Northern Ireland.² The number of cinemas declined dramatically in the period under review and by 1963, these figures were 2,181 and 107 respectively.³ While six new cinemas opened in suburban areas of Belfast or adjacent towns, eighteen Belfast cinemas closed between 1955 and 1962. In Sheffield, though two new city centre cinemas were constructed, the number of licensed cinemas fell from fifty-two in 1955 to twenty-three in 1964. Social experiences of cinema-going and the decline of cinema need to be understood in the wider context of post-war recovery and the urban development of industrial cities. A comparative assessment of the opening and closure of cinemas in Belfast and Sheffield leads us to question the impact of urban planning policies, population shifts and the development of leisure infrastructure on cinema exhibition and attendance. The case studies presented here complement the work of scholars who have turned their attention to the geography of this decline and the impact of cinema closures across the UK.⁴ This assessment also builds on several recent studies that ‘share an interest in how local microhistories of individual cinemas or companies connect with larger histories of cinema circuits, systems of exhibition, and regional or national commercial practices’.⁵

New Belfast cinemas

In the 1930s, Belfast witnessed a cinema building boom. Seventeen new cinemas were constructed and the majority of these were located in inner-city and suburban areas on the main arterial roads leading away from the city centre. The Forum, Crumlin Road, opened on 20 November 1937, was the last new cinema in Belfast before the outbreak of the Second World War. The 2,200-seat Ritz was the largest Belfast cinema and was the only one of these 1930s cinemas located in the city centre. It was part of a cluster of cinemas around Great Victoria Street, including the Royal Hippodrome and the Mayfair. Another group of city centre cinemas centred on Cornmarket and included the Classic, the Imperial and the Royal. Before the construction of the Ritz, the Classic, which opened in 1923, was the newest cinema in Belfast city centre. There were four further city centre cinemas: the Alhambra and the Gaiety on North Street, the Picture House on Royal Avenue and the Central Picture Theatre on Smithfield. The Alhambra, the Royal Hippodrome and the Gaiety were all opened originally as theatres and then converted into use as cinemas. Of the cinemas that remained in the centre at the end of the Second World War, seven were built between 1910 and 1916. In the immediate aftermath of the war, many Belfast cinemas were operated by small circuits or independent exhibitors.⁶ In 1947, the two largest chains operating in Northern Ireland were local companies, Curran Theatres and Irish Theatres, which operated six and four Belfast cinemas respectively.⁷ Meanwhile, large British exhibitors held a small but significant presence in Northern Ireland. Gaumont operated a single city-centre cinema, the Classic, and the Union circuit (owned by ABC) operated three cinemas: the Majestic, the Ritz and the Strand.

Belfast suffered serious physical damage during the 1941 Blitz, including the destruction of four cinemas: the Lyric, the Midland, the Popular and the Queen’s. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Belfast Corporation understandably prioritized the reconstruction of housing and factories above places of entertainment and did not issue building licences for new cinemas.⁸ While the Corporation, citizens and the press acknowledged that there was a demand for greater leisure facilities, no new Belfast cinemas were constructed until 1954. In June 1945, the Northern Ireland CEA presented a report to the Ministry of Commerce on the construction of cinemas in Northern Ireland. They believed that first priority licences should be granted to the owners of the four cinemas damaged in the war.⁹ Only the Popular, ‘which was badly damaged in the blitz’, upgraded its auditorium and reopened in November 1946.¹⁰ Some existing cinemas were permitted to upgrade their premises and the Kelvin reopened as the Mayfair.¹¹ Building restrictions, however, were tight and architect R. Sharpe Hill received a £100 fine for exceeding a £3,000 Ministry of Finance building licence.¹² This fine led CEA members to complain ‘that they were not getting “fair treatment” in the matter of building licences or licences for the repair and reconstruction of their premises’.¹³ In May 1946, the Ministry of Finance told exhibitors that ‘[l]icences for building kinemas in Northern Ireland will not be granted for a considerable time to come’.¹⁴

Independent exhibitors expressed concern that by permitting building licences, the Ministry of Finance would allow large British exhibitors to expand into Northern Ireland at their expense. In February 1946, Kine Weekly reported that exhibitors in Northern Ireland ‘are preparing a secret plan of campaign to combat possible infiltration tactics by cross-channel invaders’.¹⁵ In August, it suggested that Odeon had moved into the Northern Ireland market and purchased the Picture House from the Barrow Trust. It claimed that Rank planned to demolish the building and construct a 3,000 seat cinema.¹⁶ This deal was never completed and local chain Curran Theatres purchased the Picture House in March 1947. Kine Weekly reported that ‘when permits are available for building, the Picture House will be pulled down to make way for a new kinema’.¹⁷ The Belfast Telegraph, however, reported that ‘it is the intention of Curran Theatres to close the newly-purchased cinema and restaurant in August for complete renovation and refurbishing, and it is probable that the cinema will be re-opened, on completely up-to-date lines, within two months from the date of closing’.¹⁸ The Picture House was renovated and reopened as the Regent in September 1947. Undeterred from their failure to purchase the Picture House, Rank assessed other Belfast sites. In January 1947, Kine Weekly reported that Gaumont were ‘planning widespread developments to materialise as soon as building restrictions are lifted’ and that ‘negotiations are in progress for the acquisition of a number of sites. The first of these – to be acquired from the Belfast Corporation – will probably be on the Antrim Road’.¹⁹ While Estates Committee chairman W. J. Gillespie agreed to the construction of a cinema on the site of the Dromart supermarket, protestors argued that the site would be better used for housing and this cinema was never constructed.²⁰

In 1948, the Belfast Corporation granted Odeon permission to construct a 3,000-seat city centre cinema, alongside offices and shops, on a bomb-damaged city centre site.²¹ Major British circuits were keen to expand into Northern Ireland and Kine Weekly believed that ‘owing to the near-critical unemployment position in Northern Ireland … the Government is likely to be more liberal in the issue of permits’.²² These reports were unfounded and, in July 1948, the Stormont senate made it clear that Rank had not been granted permission and reaffirmed that its present policy was not ‘to approve the issue of a building licence for the erection of any cinema in Northern Ireland’.²³ In May 1954, the Belfast Telegraph reported that the Rank Organisation planned to start construction in Autumn and had ‘served notices to quit on tenants in a block in Fountain Mews’. They understood, however, ‘that negotiations are not yet completed between the organisation and all tenants on the site’.²⁴ In October, it reported that the site was being cleared and building work was due to start imminently. The 1,750-seat cinema was to ‘become the Northern Ireland “shop window” of the Odeon group’ and the plans included provision for shops and office accommodation.²⁵ In March 1955, J. Arthur Rank told the Belfast Telegraph that he hoped to return to Belfast for the opening of this new £200,000 cinema.²⁶ However, this building was never developed and, in January 1958, Kine Weekly reported that the site ‘may now be used for a 20-storey office block instead … Rank plans for the building of a super cinema in the city centre have been in the air for a number of years. The alternative to a new building is the reconstruction of the Regent which is the only first-run hall owned by Odeon (N.I.) Ltd.’.²⁷

A key characteristic of Northern Ireland’s post-war cinema exhibition industry was the Rank Organisation’s late arrival in the province. At the end of the Second World War, the company controlled one Belfast cinema, the Classic, which was renamed the Gaumont in 1950. By 1962, Odeon (NI) Ltd. operated eleven Belfast cinemas and the 1,250-seat Tivoli in the Finaghy suburb.²⁸ Except from the Tivoli, which was purchased from Irish Theatres during its construction, Rank was unable to build any new Belfast cinemas and expanded by purchasing cinemas from local chains.²⁹ This provided a more cost-effective means of expansion, as the cost of Rank’s proposed Fountain Street cinema was ‘estimated at £100 a seat compared with £40 a seat before the war’.³⁰ In February 1955, Rank subsidiary company Odeon (NI) Ltd. completed the £500,000 purchase of eleven cinemas from Irish Theatres. George Lodge, a director of Irish Theatres, was appointed as managing director of the new company and claimed that his task was to ‘bring the theatres up to the standards of Odeon theatres across the water’.³¹ ABC also expressed an interest in expanding its Northern Ireland operations and, in November 1948, inspected a site on Crumlin Road for the construction of a new cinema.³² In November, reports suggested that both ABC and Rank were interested in purchasing the twelve cinemas owned by Curran Theatres in a deal that could rise to more than £500,000. In January 1956, Curran Theatres accepted a £660,000 offer from the Rank Organisation.³³ The deal was completed in December 1956 to hand over eleven cinemas, including the Apollo, Astoria, Broadway, Capitol, Lyceum, Regal and Regent.³⁴

The relaxation of building restrictions in the 1950s offered independent exhibitors the opportunity to construct suburban cinemas to serve new housing developments. The location of these cinemas reflects post-war population shifts and the delayed impact of television in the areas where they opened. The 1,050-seat Lido was the first cinema constructed in post-war Belfast. At its official opening on 26 March 1955, former Lord Mayor Sir James Norritt stated that it ‘filled a long felt want in that growing district of the city’.³⁵ Reports of the cinema’s opening emphasized its comfort and technological advances. Kine Weekly believed that the absence of a balcony led to a greater focus on seating accommodation and observed that ‘special emphasis has been laid on the distribution of sound’.³⁶ The Belfast News-Letter commented that architect John McBride Neill had retained ‘maximum comfort for patrons and at the same time [kept] construction costs within manageable bounds’. The fact that the cinema was designed to accommodate widescreen presentation meant that ‘the first impression one receives on entering the auditorium is the great width of the proscenium’. It remarked that the Lido and its café-shop ‘has given this rather drab stretch of road an almost Continental aspect’ (see Figure 3.1).³⁷ The cinema was popular among local residents and, in 1956–7 it recorded 354,857 admissions, a figure comparable to many other inner-city cinemas.³⁸ The Tivoli opened in June 1955 and reports again emphasized the cinema’s technological capabilities: ‘extraordinary care has been taken to make the auditorium as acoustically perfect as the latest knowledge of this subject will allow’.³⁹ The Irish Builder and Engineer noted that its ventilation system and high fidelity sound reproduction ‘embodies important modifications of some features of auditorium design that were commonplace in cinema before the war’. The ‘contemporary’ interior was noted for its plain textured surfaces, use of pale pastel shades and green moquette seating.⁴⁰

In September 1956, the Belfast-based Supreme Group opened two new cinemas in Northern Ireland: The Reo in Ballyclare and the 1,000-seat Metro in Dundonald, located just outside the Belfast city boundary.⁴¹ The latter cost £50,000 and was the first post-war cinema in Northern Ireland with a balcony.⁴² Press reports continued to emphasize the cinema’s technological aspects in an attempt to persuade audiences of the benefits of cinema over television. Kine Weekly praised the Metro’s ‘anamorphic projection’ and the Belfast Telegraph stated that its forty-foot CinemaScope screen compared favourably with the large city centre cinemas.⁴³ Owner T. J. Furey claimed that while the competition of television and high levels of Entertainments Duty made the Metro a ‘calculated risk’, it ‘had long been needed at Dundonald’.⁴⁴ On 1 September, Secretary to the Northern Ireland cabinet Sir Robert Grandsen performed the opening ceremony and congratulated the owner on a ‘magnificent new cinema’. He hoped that the people of Dundonald, ‘a rapidly growing district, would appreciate what efforts were being made to bring the best in cinema entertainment their way’.⁴⁵ Oral history interviewees recalled the unusual decision to open the Metro and Noel Spence stated that he considered it ‘strange to open a brand new custom-built cinema in 1957 when the danger signs were on the horizon’.⁴⁶ It lasted only until March 1961, when the Belfast Telegraph reported that the building was available to let. It claimed that ‘[f ]or two years after its opening the Metro attracted large crowds. But in 1958, when the general fall-off in picture-going began, it also felt the effect’.⁴⁷

Figure 3.1. Lido, Shore Road, Belfast, 1955 (Irish Builder and Engineer, 10 September 1955).

From 1953–4, Dorita Field and Desmond Neill surveyed housewives on new housing estates built by the Northern Ireland Housing Trust, commenting that the distance from amenities was a factor that reduced or prevented cinema attendance. Their survey suggested that ‘for housewives who did go out, cinema-going was by far the most important activity, and for more than half of them their sole activity … Of those who did go to the cinema, about 60% went at least once a week, and about 30% once a month’.⁴⁸ Rathcoole was one of the post-war housing estates constructed by the Northern Ireland Housing Trust and Figure 3.2 shows the areas transition from rural farmland in 1936 to a suburban housing estate in 1961. In December 1955, reporter Eric Waugh claimed that the most common complaints among residents were the frequency of public transport and access to amenities in Belfast city centre. He added that ‘the impression is unavoidable that already the city’s jobs, its shops, its cinemas and ballrooms are influencing Rathcoole so much as to set it in the standard mould of a new Belfast suburb’. One resident lamented that ‘the estate empties at nine o’clock on Saturday morning and it’s that way till late at night – all the entertainment’s in Belfast’.⁴⁹

Cinema exhibitors were responsive to the local demand for leisure facilities on the new estates. In July 1956, Kine Weekly reported that Curran Theatres were awaiting completion of the Alpha in Rathcoole: ‘This is the first of three which should be built in the next two years. The others are a 1,600-seater at Andersontown and a 1,300-seater at Cregagh, Belfast’.⁵⁰ While the latter were never constructed, the 918-seat Alpha opened in April 1957 under the ownership of a newly registered company, Rathcoole (Entertainments) Ltd. Its opening night featured a screening of The Caine Mutiny (US, 1954) and a personal appearance of celebrity pin-up and actress Sabrina.⁵¹ Kine Weekly reported that the Alpha ‘is in the middle of a new housing estate with a present population of about 6,000. The area has a potential population of 10,000 to 12,000’.⁵² The cinema’s opening night programme acknowledged the distance from Belfast city centre stating that a ‘shopping centre has already been established, excellent churches have been provided, and now comes the opening of this beautiful cinema’.⁵³ Reports focused on McBride Neill’s functional design and Ideal Kinema stated that ‘one sees an extremely straightforward solution to many problems which have worried exhibitors for years and, indeed, the very simplicity of the planning, décor and furnishings is the outstanding feature of the building’. It also commented on the technological benefits over other cinemas and stated that the ‘architect has given considerable thought to the acoustic treatment of the auditorium’.⁵⁴ The addition of a ground floor café and milk bar in 1959, the first in a Northern Ireland cinema, shows the exhibitors desire to attract young audiences by offering a range of social spaces.⁵⁵

Figure 3.2. Rathcoole, 1936 and 1960–1 (Alpha circled) (Ordnance Survey, National Grid 1:2500. © Crown Copyright and Landmark Information Group Limited 2016. All rights reserved. 1936–61).

In December 1957, the new Comber cinema hoped to draw patrons from the new estates in south-east Belfast, four miles away. Noel Spence grew up in Comber and commented that while ‘the new cinema was very classy’, the decision ‘to build a new cinema in fifty-seven was kind of an act of faith with TV becoming a real menace – but they did it anyhow and for many years Comber cinema was very successful and very popular locally’.⁵⁶ Kine Weekly commented that the construction of new cinemas provided ‘[e]vidence of the faith of independent exhibitors in the prosperity of the industry in Northern Ireland’ and suggested that either small circuits had confidence in the future of the local cinema industry, or large British circuits did not build new cinemas as they considered the health of the industry in the United Kingdom as a whole.⁵⁷

Several Belfast cinemas responded to changing audience preferences by renovating their premises and reopening under different names. In July 1958 Capital and Provincial News Theatres director, Eric Rhodes, visited Belfast to negotiate a deal to convert the Mayfair into Ireland’s first news theatre. The Belfast Telegraph informed its readers that the programme lasted just over an hour and that news theatres were ‘designed particularly for the city shopper and the person who has not enough time for longer programmes’.⁵⁸ Rhodes stated that ‘I am sure a news theatre would do well in Belfast – it is most unusual for a city of this size not to have one’.⁵⁹ Kine Weekly informed its readers that it if the company ‘does acquire a cinema in Belfast its programme will be mainly composed of cartoons with possibly one newsreel’.⁶⁰ In October, Capital and Provincial News Theatres purchased the Mayfair and revealed a five-week conversion plan.⁶¹ It stated that the conversion was designed to help the cinema compete with new media forms: ‘[it] is one type of cinema which to-day is successfully competing against television. It offers something which can’t be got on TV – coloured cartoon and coloured travelogues. The latter are becoming very popular’. The cinema’s central location was key to its appeal. Its marketing campaigns targeted travellers and mothers with domestic duties, claiming it is ‘handy for the railway and bus stations’ and ‘handy to leave the children whilst mother does her shopping’.⁶² In 1965, manager Sally Feenan claimed that many parents left children at the cinema during shopping trips: ‘We keep them all in the back rows, where the usherettes can keep an eye on them’.⁶³

From 1960 to 1962, Odeon (NI) completed a programme of ‘modernisation, renovation and reorganisation’ in its most important cinemas.⁶⁴ In November 1960, it purchased the Grand Opera House and the Royal Hippodrome and confirmed that it had ‘no plans or intentions to convert either … to a bowling alley or to use either for purposes other than entertainment’.⁶⁵ In April 1961, Eveleigh announced that the Royal Hippodrome was to receive ‘extensive renovations and improvements’ and that ‘alterations in equipment and seating’ were to take place in the Grand Opera House.⁶⁶ Eveleigh stated that these renovations were a temporary measure and ‘in no way a forerunner of any change in the basic policy of either house’.⁶⁷ Odeon was anxious to preserve the Grand Opera House’s character while modernizing it to ‘present-day standards’. Its balcony’s seating capacity was reduced to give ‘maximum comfort’ and licensed bars with a ‘trim sophisticated look’ were opened.⁶⁸ After these renovations, Norman Campbell claimed that the steeply tiered balcony was especially popular with courting couples: ‘I have this image of the Grand Opera House filled from the top downwards, and at a particular time in the evening, it would have been top heavy, because nearly everybody there was in the balcony … [it] would have been covered with couples who were all courting’.⁶⁹ From 26 June, the Royal Hippodrome underwent renovations and its seating capacity was reduced.⁷⁰ In October 1961, it reopened as the Odeon and the Belfast Telegraph commented that the exterior had received a ‘thorough facelift’ and ‘[g]enerous leg-room between rows and swivelling seats, which make “popping up and down” unnecessary, and a lowered ceiling – achieved by eliminating the gallery – will be among the improvements’.⁷¹ In 1965, buoyed by the success of previous renovations, Odeon (NI) spent £100,000 modernizing the Regent. In June, it reopened as the Avenue with its seating capacity increased from 675 to 800.⁷²

Cinema closures in Belfast

In Belfast, the later arrival of television and lower levels of affluence meant that cinema closures occurred later than in many other parts of the United Kingdom. The most intense period of cinema closures occurred from 1958 to 1962, and seventeen cinemas closed their doors. The majority of these were older buildings and the Apollo was the only 1930s cinema to close in the period under review. Following the demise of the Apollo in December 1962, no Belfast cinemas closed until 1966. The first Belfast cinemas to go were generally smaller, older and independent cinemas. John Campbell was born in 1936 and lived in the York Street area of North Belfast. While he mainly frequented his local cinemas such as the Duncairn and the Lyceum, he also travelled to the city centre: ‘When I was young, I would have went to the cheaper cinemas in the town centre. An old music hall called the Gaiety. Or the Gay-ity, as we called it. And there was another one in the centre of town called the Central, and it really was the pits’.⁷³ When the Gaiety ceased business in 1956, the Irish Independent claimed that it was ‘the North’s first casualty in the cinema versus television war’.⁷⁴ The Central, meanwhile, closed in 1958.⁷⁵ The 500-seat Shankill Picturedrome opened in 1910 and closed in 1958. It was one of the cheapest cinemas in Belfast and prices ranged from 3d to 6d. The building’s conversion to a Spar Foodliner store in 1962 represents changing habits and the use of space within inner-city residential areas.⁷⁶

In 1958, Northern Ireland CEA chairman George Lodge stated that unless Entertainments Duty was abolished, ‘a number of cinemas in the Province are bound to close’.⁷⁷ Belfast Telegraph reporter Gordon Duffield claimed that the Belfast cinema industry was ‘fighting for its life’. While he highlighted television as cinema’s ‘great enemy’, he agreed that Entertainments Duty placed an unfair burden on cinema exhibitors.⁷⁸ To survive, cinemas required a regular supply of quality films and to invest in their premises: ‘it takes courage to invest money in cinema renovation and reconstruction. Running costs and overheads have increased from anything from 200 to 400 per cent. since the war – yet cinema prices have gone up only a fraction of that figure’. One method of increasing revenue, he suggested, was to open cinemas on Sunday: ‘films are being shown in the majority of homes – through TV – on Sunday night. Should the cinema owner who wants to show his films on Sunday night be discriminated against?’⁷⁹ Sabbatarian interests and fears of a ‘continental Sunday’ meant that no Belfast cinemas opened on Sunday during the period under review, except for members of the armed forces. In October, Lodge told the Belfast Telegraph that ‘[p]eople will not go to the cinema to see an “ordinary” film. The good ones are still pulling in the crowds as they did before – but the public will not put up with mediocrity’. He claimed that there ‘are many cinema-owners in Belfast who, if they could use their cinemas for some more remunerative purpose than films would seize the opportunity with both hands’.⁸⁰

In 1959, four cinemas closed down: the Alhambra, the Coliseum, the Diamond and the Imperial. In July, the latter was sold for £110,000 and, following its final performance on 28 November, was converted into a branch of Sterling’s fashion store. This change reflected increased affluence and the fact that young people were spending more of their disposable income on consumer goods, such as clothes. The Belfast Telegraph reported that ‘while the Imperial was not losing money the general recession in the cinema trade and high overhead expenses had led to the decision to put it on the market’. The cinema’s managing director added that the ‘tremendous increase in rates a few years ago really tipped our heels’.⁸¹ While the Alhambra and the Coliseum both closed in 1959, Odeon (NI) had attempted to offload these cinemas after purchasing them from Irish Theatres in March 1955. In March 1956, the Lyric Light Opera Company wrote to the Rank Organisation and requested that they sell either the Coliseum or the Alhambra for use as a national theatre in Northern Ireland.⁸² In September, Kine Weekly reported that ‘negotiations are under way for the sale of the Belfast Coliseum – a 600-seater and one of the oldest theatres in the city – to the Northern Ireland Council for the Encouragement of the Music and the Arts’ (CEMA).⁸³ While the Northern Ireland Government considered providing a £50,000 grant to CEMA to purchase the Coliseum, it eventually rejected the plan ‘on grounds of general financial policy’.⁸⁴ Odeon (NI) managing director Victor Powell stated that the cinema was still on the market for use as a theatre or ‘for other purposes’.⁸⁵ In April 1958, Kine Weekly reported that even if the Northern Ireland Government reduced the Entertainment Tax to similar levels as in Great Britain, ‘it is unlikely to mean a reprieve for the Alhambra and Coliseum in Belfast. These two cinemas – formerly variety theatres – belong to Odeon (N.I.) Ltd., and have been on the market for some time’.⁸⁶ In October 1958, the Rank Organisation announced a national rationalization policy and intended to close 110 of its 494 cinemas, to merge the Odeon and Gaumont circuits and to convert some cinemas into dance halls.⁸⁷ Despite rumours of closures, Eveleigh stated that Odeon (NI) was registered as a separate company within the Rank Organisation and ‘that the circuit did not envisage the closing of any other cinemas in Northern Ireland’.⁸⁸

In May 1959, the Coliseum was sold to Silver Cabs Limited, who planned to convert the building ‘to provide additional accommodation for their fleet of 200 cars’.⁸⁹ The company’s director stated that it would be impossible to use the building for entertainment purposes as there was ‘a covenant in the deeds prohibiting it’.⁹⁰ On 10 September 1959, a suspect fire partially destroyed the interior of the Alhambra. A spokesman for the Rank Organisation stated that ‘[i]t is no secret that the Alhambra has been up for sale for some time now. At this stage I cannot comment on its future – whether it will be sold as it now stands or whether it will re-open again as a picture house’.⁹¹ It never reopened and by 1966 was reconstructed as a supermarket.⁹²

From the introduction of UTV in October 1959 to the end of 1962, twelve Belfast cinemas went out of business. The majority of these were inner-city and suburban cinemas and, following the introduction of commercial television in Northern Ireland, reports of cinema closures tended to place greater emphasis on the impact of television. They also underlined potential future uses of these buildings, showing how their perceptions of the city were changing.

In May 1960, the Belfast Telegraph reported that an undisclosed cinema was for sale that was ‘ideally suited for conversion into a supermarket or arcade’. The reporter claimed further that ‘two more cinemas – described as suitable for motor works, shops or dance halls – in the same area are to be offered for sale soon’.⁹³ In December 1960, reports suggested that the Royal was to close in the following year and be replaced with an office block. Reporter Gordon Duffield believed that its proposed redevelopment, alongside Rank’s recent acquisition of the Grand Opera House and the Royal Hippodrome, showed that ‘major changes are pending in the city’s cinema trade. It is rumoured that the Opera House and Royal Hippodrome will be pulled down to make room for a new super cinema and that the Gaumont and the Regent will be sold for their site values’.⁹⁴ In September 1961, the Belfast Telegraph included a picture of the partially demolished Royal cinema and highlighted that the cinema was ‘fast disappearing to give place to a block of shops and offices … A part of the city’s history is vanishing’.⁹⁵ When John Tyler and Sons’ shoe shop opened on its former site, it stated that it ‘is one of the block of modern buildings that have risen on the site of the old Royal Cinema, which dominated one side of Arthur Square for about 45 years’.⁹⁶

In 1960, Martin Wallace reported on the recent spate of cinema closures in the Belfast Telegraph. Following the downturn of cinema-going in Great Britain, he claimed that ‘Ulster cinemas, too, are feeling the cold wind of change. Close to a dozen have closed in recent years, and others will follow’. Belfast’s suburban cinemas were hardest hit as ‘most districts now have too many cinemas for the film-going population which remains – and too few films are made to provide new “product”’. The concurrent decline of cinema attendance in the US led Hollywood producers to make fewer films, with Harper and Porter observing that the ‘choice of films available to cinema managers became even more restricted from 1954 onwards, when the number of new American films fell sharply’.⁹⁷ Wallace believed that many suburban cinemas were competing for the same cinema-goers and there was simply not enough new material to keep viewers interested. In contrast, ‘city centre cinemas are doing fairly well, although the queues of earlier years have largely vanished’. He stated that while ‘a visit to the city centre is still a “night out” – a visit to the local cinema is not. It is the old, uncomfortable, cheaper cinemas which have mostly closed’. Wallace noted the interest of property speculators in city centre sites that might be put to a more profitable use. While many suburban owners wished to sell, their sites offered less potential than their city centre counterparts. Despite the impact of television and Entertainments Duty, Wallace believed that cinemas could do more to attract customers with greater showmanship, more variety in programming, greater comfort and improved advertising. Overall, he argued ‘cinemas can still count on a young audience, particularly as teenagers have more money in their pockets. But this is not the basis of a large and profitable industry’.⁹⁸

At the end of the Second World War, there were three cinemas on the Shankill Road: the Shankill Picturedrome, the Stadium and the West End Picture House. The latter closed in 1960 and a representative stated that it could not ‘compete any more with television and the growth of motoring and outside sport … People’s habits are changing, and a night out at the cinema doesn’t mean the same as it did. Independent owners haven’t a chance today’.⁹⁹ The Stadium was one of the larger inner-city cinemas opened in the 1930s and was purchased by Odeon (NI) from Irish Theatres. In April 1958, the Rank Organisation claimed that it was ‘determined to fight television locally’ and was reconstructing many of its Northern Ireland cinemas to attract larger audiences.¹⁰⁰ It renovated its more profitable suburban cinemas, such as the Regal, the Stadium and the Astoria and there was greater standardization in their décor and fittings. An advert in November 1961 announced that the Stadium was reopening after ‘complete modernisation’. It claimed that the cinema ‘has been brought up to London West End standards for the comfort, pleasure and entertainment of the cinema-going public of Belfast’. It reopened with a screening of The Guns of Navarone (US/UK, 1961), which was shown concurrently with the first-run Odeon.¹⁰¹ This policy of screening first-run films in suburban cinemas ‘quickly caught the imagination of a public which was used to “going down town” for its films’.¹⁰² By October 1961, Kine Weekly claimed that while a number of cinemas hade closed, ‘[t]here are strong signs of the virility of the industry … In Belfast major conversions are taking place and even the smaller circuits have shown themselves willing to pour money into better accommodation and good publicity’.¹⁰³

When the Metro closed in March 1961, the Belfast Telegraph reported that while it was ‘one of the finest suburban cinemas to be equipped for Cinema-Scope’, the owners ‘have decided to let the 1,000-seater picture-house possibly as a supermarket, warehouse, small factory or garage’.¹⁰⁴ The fact that it had opened in 1956 made its closure especially surprising and the other post-war cinemas remained open much longer. The Alpha, Lido and Tivoli remained in operation until 1973, 1970 and 1975 respectively. The Capitol and the Lyceum were both located on Antrim Road and were both part of the Odeon (NI) circuit. On 17 April 1961, the Belfast Telegraph reported that the Lyceum, which was built in 1916, was ‘available for sale’.¹⁰⁵ The cinema closed on 29 April and manager Kevin McConnell stated that ‘[w]e are having our normal three Saturday shows and after the final curtain falls we will lock up as usual and go home … Anyone who is here to-night will be here simply because they decided to go to the pictures, not because the Lyceum is closing’.¹⁰⁶ The Gaumont cinema ceased business on 30 September 1961 and the staff were relocated to the newly renovated Royal Hippodrome. In April, Eveleigh denied that it had been sold to House of Fraser in a £350,000 deal, yet it was reported ‘that a number of cross-channel organisations are showing interest in the cinema and representatives have inspected the building’.¹⁰⁷ In August 1961, the Belfast Telegraph’s property correspondent claimed to have been told ‘that £325,000 has been paid by British Home Stores for the Gaumont Cinema’.¹⁰⁸ Construction of the new store began in July 1964 and the new BHS opened in December 1965.¹⁰⁹

The closure and conversion of cinemas into shops and offices altered people’s use of the city centre and changed the social life of Belfast. In November 1961, the Belfast Telegraph claimed that Belfast at night was a dying city: ‘The pavements are silent. The hum of life is almost gone and overhead arc lights throw unbroken shadows on the deserted streets’. After the three Cornmarket cinemas closed down, ‘the public started to abandon the district after 6-30’. Consequently, surrounding shops were closing earlier, pubs were losing trade and the British Legion car park had lost business. A spokesman for Gardiners, a tobacconist with premises in Arthur Square, stated that the ‘disappearance of the cinemas has certainly affected us. The area is still a good place to have a business during the day, but after six o’clock the place is deserted’. A. W. Allen, secretary of the British Legion car attendants, stated that now they were operating at a loss in the Cornmarket area: ‘Although business has increased for us around the Ritz and Odeon, this has not made up for the collapse of Cornmarket’.¹¹⁰ In 1963, the Irish Independent reported on changes in Belfast over the past decade. It claimed that television, ‘with its stay-at-home audiences’, had altered the social life of the city: ‘London property men have virtually torn the heart out of Belfast’s cinema and theatre-land and left behind a great emptiness, especially at night, a wilderness of shop fronts, office blocks, banks and insurance offices … A city cannot lose its places of entertainment without losing its character as well’.¹¹¹ In Northern Ireland, licensing laws for bingo were stricter than in the rest of the United Kingdom and public games of bingo were permitted only on a club basis. In 1963, four men were convicted of running illegal bingo games in the former Sandro cinema.¹¹² Two months later, the Royal Ulster Constabulary warned that most bingo sessions in Northern Ireland were operating illegally. One report suggested that the Northern Ireland CEA had been keeping in close touch with the situation as ‘the likely future of bingo is of some considerable concern to cinema proprietors’.¹¹³

Three more cinemas closed in 1962: the Popular, the Crumlin Picture House and the Apollo. The latter was one of the cinemas purchased by Rank from Curran Theatres in 1956. Eveleigh stated that ‘[t]he Apollo is a family theatre, but, as it stands at the moment, I do not consider it satisfactory for public use. The amenities in it are bad and, unfortunately, it is too small to lend itself to improvement’.¹¹⁴ The Belfast Telegraph reported that ‘the site was so confined that it would have required complete rebuilding to make it into the type of cinema Odeon operates’.¹¹⁵ In many districts, there were too many cinemas to serve the population and large exhibitors were unwilling to invest in smaller and less profitable cinemas. Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, Martin Wallace foresaw the closure of suburban cinemas and observed that ‘[m]ost districts now have too many cinemas for the film-going population which remains’. He claimed that, as cinema attendances decline further, ‘it is quite possible that, in each district only the best cinema will survive – the one that is most comfortable, the one that has traditionally offered the best programmes’.¹¹⁶ In the early 1960s, Belfast residents attended the cinema less frequently than they had done in the previous decade. There is evidence, however, that increasing wages and greater amounts of disposable income meant that they were prepared to spend more on individual cinema trips and preferred to visit more upmarket venues. The oral history testimony suggests that adolescents became more discerning in their film choices and as one cinema-owner commented to the local press: ‘people don’t go to the pictures anymore … they go to see a particular film. The bread-and-butter programme doesn’t bring them in any more’.¹¹⁷

Suburban cinema exhibition in Sheffield

In 1945, there were only four first-run cinemas in Sheffield and large British exhibitors held a relatively small presence. ABC operated the Hippodrome and Rank operated the Regent. The latter opened in 1927 and was the last cinema built in Sheffield city centre before the war. In the 1930s, Rank attempted to increase its presence in Sheffield and though construction of the Sheffield Odeon began in 1939, the outbreak of war interrupted its progress. The majority of Sheffield’s cinemas were either owned independently or under the control of local chains. In 1947, for instance, Sheffield and District Cinematograph Theatres owned the Carlton, the Cinema House and the Globe.¹¹⁸ In 1959, this chain was purchased by Mappin and Webb Ltd., a London and Sheffield silversmiths.¹¹⁹ By 1965, Sheffield had only twenty licenced cinemas. ABC relinquished the Hippodrome in 1948 and opened a new cinema in 1961, and Rank had increased its presence to two cinemas with the completion of the Odeon in 1956. Many small chains and independently-owned cinemas had closed down and the largest circuit was Star Cinemas, which operated the Abbeydale, the Heeley Palace, the Lyric, the Oxford, the Pavilion, the Star and the Wicker.¹²⁰

After the Second World War, no new cinemas were constructed to serve Sheffield’s suburban housing developments. In March 1950, the Sheffield City Council Estates Committee allocated eight sites on housing estates for cinema construction: Stradbroke, Manor Park, Nab Lane, Greenhill, Broadway, Norton and two in Parson Cross.¹²¹ The Sheffield CEA then appointed a sub-committee ‘to go into the allocation of sites for new cinemas in the city suburbs’.¹²² Secretary Arnold Favell requested that applicants state if they had at any point owned cinemas in slum clearance areas and the committee would then allocate the available sites in terms of priority.¹²³ No suitable exhibitors came forward and, in 1955, Sheffield CEA arranged a meeting for ‘members interested in being allocated kinema sites on the new housing estates’. The number of sites available was reduced to four: ‘Hackenthorpe, Greenhill, Manor Park and Gleadless Valley, with the first three ready for immediate development’. Favell claimed that since 1950 ‘there had been many changes. Some of the original sites had been abandoned and others added, and some of the companies allocated sites may not wish to go on with them’. Sheffield City Council, furthermore, ‘were anxious to lease the sites expeditiously’.¹²⁴ Exhibitors were unwilling to invest in new cinemas as audiences were already declining and suburban cinemas were faring worse than their city centre counterparts. At the 1956 Sheffield CEA’s annual meeting, Favell stated that although ‘several kinema sites had become available on corporation housing estates CEA members had made little response’.¹²⁵

Many interwar housing developments were served by cinemas in neighbouring districts. From 1951 to 1952, sociologists Mark Hodges and Cyril Smith investigated social relationships on the Wybourn Estate, built to provide housing for families relocated as part of an interwar slum clearance scheme.¹²⁶ They observed that it was well served by amenities and commented that the foot of the estate ‘runs into a working class shopping centre with a cinema’.¹²⁷ One mother believed that ‘without the cheap cinema nearby there would be nothing for the children to do’.¹²⁸ Many residents also used public transport to access city centre cinemas: ‘in the evenings there is an outward movement to the cinema (as one person remarked, “You’ll never find anybody in after seven on the estate. They’re all at the pictures”)’.¹²⁹

Although exhibitors were unwilling to invest in new sites, press reports reveal the demand for cinemas on new housing developments. In 1958, residents of High Green, a village on the northern outskirts of Sheffield, lamented the lack of amenities and believed that more was needed to cater for bored youth. ‘There are no pictures and no-where to go’, pleaded one seventeen-year-old male accused of joyriding in court. The Star reported on ‘the sad paradox of the large “For Sale” notice outside the village’s only cinema – its doors closed for the last time through lack of audiences. “Paradox” because almost everyone we interviewed cited the lack of a cinema as one of the village’s main deficiencies’.¹³⁰ Cinemas were not the only amenity absent from these areas. The Star later named seven-year-old Manor Park as Sheffield’s ‘forgotten estate’, as its 5,000 residents lacked a post office, a chemist, a haberdasher, a cinema and a public hall or community centre.¹³¹ Hackenthorpe resident Arthur Stocks told the paper that ‘[t]here’s no cinema, no proper community centre and no playground for the kids … They’re building some shops now, but it’s taken them a year and this estate is six years old. It makes anyone feel they’re forgotten’.¹³² In 1961, Anthony Tweedale, writing in The Star, cited population shifts as a significant factor in cinema closures:

His comments suggest that the problem for independent exhibitors was not only that they lacked the funds to renovate or modernize their premises, but that post-war population shifts and housing development meant that audiences could no longer access the cinemas that were once within walking distance.

Not all neighbourhoods lost their audiences and smaller circuits increased their presence by purchasing cinemas rather than constructing new ones. In December 1947, Newcastle-based chain Essoldo purchased the Forum, the Capitol and the Ecclesfield Cinema House for £250,000.¹³⁴ In 1955, Star Cinemas acquired majority shareholdings in nine cinemas and became Sheffield’s largest cinema chain. It refitted these cinemas, installing CinemaScope screens and projection equipment.¹³⁵ Star was one of the fastest growing chains in the 1950s and, in 1962, Spraos commented that ‘it is a chain of comparatively small cinemas and for that reason its expansion must have saved a few from permanent closure. Nevertheless it cannot be overlooked that it has also increased the already heavy weight of the chains in the cinema industry’.¹³⁶

The Odeon

Journalists and commentators frequently reported that Sheffield’s leisure infrastructure was underdeveloped in comparison to similarly-sized British cities. In 1951, a Jamaican visitor to Sheffield lamented that it was ‘a city bereft of all night life, the younger set mostly, must turn to the cinema for relaxation – and the long queues I see in the evenings outside your cinemas suggest there is need in Sheffield for at least two modern motion picture houses’.¹³⁷ Exhibitors were aware of the demand for more cinemas in Sheffield city centre and Odeon had first received permission to build a centrally located cinema on Flat Street in 1933. Construction began in 1938, though was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. In June 1954, new architectural plans for the cinema were completed and the Rank Organisation announced that construction would recommence in the next three months.¹³⁸ From March 1955, workmen cleared the steel girders on the original site and commenced construction of the new building.¹³⁹ In September, The Star included an artist’s impression of the building and Roy Mason, district manager of the Circuits Management Association, stated that ‘the decoration and interior will be something which has never been seen in a theatre before … When this theatre is open, I know Sheffield will be proud of it’.¹⁴⁰

Before the Odeon’s opening, reports emphasized that its technology would differentiate it from existing cinemas. The Star claimed that the 2,300-seat Odeon would be the largest cinema in South Yorkshire and its fifty-foot screen the largest in the north of England (see Figure 3.3). It claimed further that ‘the shape of the auditorium is unique. It will be deeply curved and will accommodate any type of picture and any type of sound will be possible. Modernistic architecture is being used for the front entrance. Glass walls will be featured’.¹⁴¹ After the cinema’s completion, Kine Weekly noted the contrast with Sheffield’s existing cinemas, stating that ‘the new theatre is a departure from conventional design. Internally, clean, simple lines, warm colour schemes, contemporary lighting treatment and considerable areas of close-carpeting create a comfort-with-a-modern-look atmosphere’.¹⁴² The Star even claimed that it was ‘the most modern cinema in the country … the number of seats has been reduced to give more “leg room”, and there are many novel facilities for patrons’ comfort’.¹⁴³ The Sheffield Telegraph added that ‘sound engineers have put all their knowledge and experience into making the theatre acoustically perfect’. It claimed that the high definition screen threw all available light into the seating area, ensured maximum picture clarity and provided good viewing conditions from anywhere in the auditorium.¹⁴⁴

Figure 3.3. Interior of Odeon, Sheffield, July 1956 (Picture Sheffield, Sheffield City Council Archives and Local Studies Service).

On 16 July 1956, the Odeon’s opening night featured a screening of Reach for the Sky (UK, 1956) five days after its London premiere. There were 1,800 tickets available to members of the public with prices ranging from 2s 6d to 3s 6d. The Dagenham Girl Pipers marched across Sheffield from the Gaumont to the Odeon, where state trumpeters from the York and Lancaster Regiment sounded a fanfare for the arriving guests.¹⁴⁵ The demand for tickets was so great that they were limited to two per person and applications were received from as far away as South Africa.¹⁴⁶ John Davis, managing director of the Rank Organisation, attended the opening with his wife Dinah Sheridan.¹⁴⁷ He used his speech to counter the emergence of television and assert the strength of the cinema exhibition industry: ‘At this time if you read press reports and listen to some people, you may get the impression that the future of the industry is somewhat doubtful. We have our problems. We do not deny it, but we know that this industry will continue to satisfy 23 million people who visit cinemas every week in this country’.¹⁴⁸ Deputy Lord Mayor Alderman J. Curtis highlighted the changes he envisioned in Sheffield cinema exhibition. He ‘appealed that the city should have a higher place on the list of provincial releases so that films were not shown two years after lesser-known towns like Pudsey, Oswaldtwistle and Chorlton-cum-Hardy’.¹⁴⁹ In the 1950s, press reports had frequently commented on Sheffield’s low place in the list of releases and his comments ‘were greeted with deafening applause’.¹⁵⁰

The Odeon’s luxury interior and facilities, alongside its access to first-run films, drew patrons away its city centre rivals. Sheldon Hall claims that its arrival was as much responsible as television for the Gaumont’s declining admissions in the mid-to-late 1950s.¹⁵¹ While it is clear that there was demand for a new first-run cinema in Sheffield city centre, declining audiences meant that the Odeon placed greater emphasis on ancillary revenue, such as sales of sweets, chocolate, ice cream and cigarettes. Kine Sales and Catering Review commented that ‘great care was given to the design’ of its two sales kiosks ‘so that they formed an integral part of the foyer’.¹⁵² In 1956, 224 UK cinemas closed and the Odeon was one of only fourteen new cinemas that opened.¹⁵³ In September 1956, The Economist reported that while it was increasingly making more money from manufacturing, it ‘would be a gross exaggeration to suggest that the Rank Organisation is edging sideways out of the film business. But there is no doubt which side of its activities is developing fastest, and this is not films’. Cinemas were increasingly expensive to develop and the commercial space they occupied could be used often for more profitable purposes. The report highlighted that the majority of Rank cinemas were purchased before the war and ‘since 1939 the cost of building a cinema has risen about four and a half times’.¹⁵⁴ Despite Rank’s rationalization programme of cinema closures, it opened new cinemas on sites that the company already owned and in areas where it held a large presence.

Cinema closures in Sheffield

In 1952, the Scala was the first cinema to shut its doors in post-war Sheffield. The cause of this closure was neither the decline in post-war cinema attendance nor the rise in television ownership. It was purchased by Sheffield University, whose bursar stated that while it intended to demolish the cinema, ‘[d]ifficulties in regard to licences for building and material would not permit this, so it was intended to use part of the cinema buildings for academic purposes’.¹⁵⁵ From the introduction of ITV in November 1956 to the end of 1957, four Sheffield cinemas closed down. The Weston Picture Palace was located in inner-city Sheffield, close to the University. Mrs A. Burrows, secretary of Hallamshire Cinemas Ltd., stated that ‘[t]here has been so much demolition work and rehousing in the area that the people just aren’t here any longer. Patrons who have been coming here for years are now in Parson Cross and other housing estates’.¹⁵⁶ By the end of 1957, the Victory, the Darnall Cinema and the Woodhouse Picture Palace had all closed. Arnold Favell claimed that high levels of taxation meant that some suburban cinemas were losing money and The Star proposed that ‘only an immediate relief in Entertainment Tax can prevent the closing of more Sheffield suburban cinemas in 1958’. It added that ‘[t]elevision is not entirely to blame for the falling support … Extra costs on every side of the industry have led to increased admission prices’.¹⁵⁷ From February to March 1958, the Tinsley Picture Palace, the Don Picture Palace and the Hillsborough Kinema House all shut their doors. The Star claimed that the closure of the Tinsley Picture Palace was ‘not the direct result of the entertainments tax burden’ and that the premises were to become a motor auction. The cinema’s director, J. E. L. Wadsworth, hinted that cinema sites might be profitably used for other purposes and added that ‘I would like to make it clear that we are not going out of business because we are losing money. We are not making much, but we are not losing’. His brother, cinema manager L. V. Wadsworth, protested against Entertainment Tax and stated that ‘TV has made some difference but without this vicious tax many cinemas need not close down’.¹⁵⁸ In March 1959, the Don Picture Palace was reopened as Progress House, the new premises of the Bradford Woollen Company. While the interior was converted into a ‘brand new, streamlined fashion house and warehouse’, the little changed exterior was a ‘reminder of the days when cinemas were themselves threats to radio and the theatre’.¹⁵⁹

In February 1959, the Carlton, the Chantrey Picture House, the Darnall Picture Palace and the Wincobank Picture Palace all closed down. The Carlton had served the newly built Arbourthorne Estate since 1938 and was the youngest cinema to close in the period under review. The large majority of Sheffield cinemas that closed before 1965 were constructed prior to the 1930s. Manager W. H. Brown said that ‘many youngsters could now afford to go into the city for cinema entertainment and as a result only the old “faithfuls” remained’. He added that, as the large circuits had greater booking power, the ‘independent suburban cinema is being crushed out of existence and it is a great loss to the community’. Exhibitors were clearly aware that their counterparts in other areas of the country were also struggling. Sydney Jackson, northern divisional organizer for NATKE, compared Sheffield cinema closures to those in other cities: ‘Leeds had lost 10 cinemas in the last two years. The pattern of entertainment is changing and people want better and bigger pictures in more comfortable surroundings’.¹⁶⁰

The Star reported that television and taxes were the chief causes of recent closures and lamented that ‘for the first time in more than 20 years, there are now a number of unemployed projectionists’. Wilfred Sedgwick, chief projectionist at a city cinema, stated that ‘soon thousands will be out of work unless something is done to draw the public from the TV set – if it is the TV set that is causing declining audiences’.¹⁶¹ Several readers responded to this article. ‘Sprocket’, for instance cited a range of factors and implied that there was public demand for more city centre cinemas:

The failure to upgrade or renovate cinemas meant that they no longer retained their status as ‘picture palaces’. Patrons were not simply paying to see the film and increasingly demanded the higher standards of comfort that newer cinemas offered.

Five more cinemas closed in 1959: the Heeley Green Picture House, the Unity, the Roxy, the Globe and the Norfolk Picture House. In November 1959, the Kinematograph Renters’ Society forced the Norfolk Picture House to abandon a scheme offering half-price tickets on Monday and Thursday as it broke the terms of its film hire contract. The manager claimed that he was forced to offer the deal as ‘[t]he Corporation have wrecked the area near the cinema’ and slum clearance led to the loss of patrons.¹⁶³ The attempts to turn Heeley Green Picture House into a theatre show the range of potential uses for defunct cinemas. In February 1959, The Star reported that ‘Sheffield Amateur Theatre Project’s quest for a building to house amateur drama and music groups has ended in success’ and its representatives had voted in favour of purchasing the Heeley Green Picture House.¹⁶⁴ Despite a fundraising campaign and promise of financial support from the city council this plan did not come to fruition. The costs of the project increased and the City Council were no longer able to provide financial assistance.¹⁶⁵ From April 1961 to July 1962, it briefly reopened as the Tudor cinema and was later used as a bingo hall.¹⁶⁶

Despite the abolition of Entertainment Tax in April, more cinemas closed in 1960, such as the Crookes Picture Palace, the Phoenix and the Park. Poor attendance led to the closure of the Crookes cinema. Manager A. Burrows stated that ‘the audiences have simply drifted away’.¹⁶⁷ The impact of cinema closures was generational. While younger cinema-goers were able to travel into the city centre once their local neighbourhood cinema closed down, for those with families and children, financial constraints often prevented these trips. Andrew and Carol Palmer had their first child in 1958 and Andrew claimed that: ‘When we had a young family from when we first got married, you couldn’t afford to go. You couldn’t afford to go. I mean, I used to go to work and I used to pay my wages over to Carol and I’d just got enough money to go to work for rest of the week’.¹⁶⁸ David Ludlam, born in 1930, stated that before the introduction of television, the cinema was his main form of entertainment. After he got married in 1956, he claimed that ‘we certainly didn’t go to the cinema going into the fifties, having got married and pennies were tight … I’d go along to the pub instead, that was nearer’.¹⁶⁹ The solo nature of these pub visits indicates the gendered impact of cinema closures and its influence on separate leisure patterns. Though female pub-going increased in the post-war years, it remained a predominantly male institution. Claire Langhamer has claimed that leisure patterns in marriage were diverse, yet the ‘notion that men earned leisure while women facilitated it framed gendered experiences of leisure within a marriage’.¹⁷⁰ Married women tended to engage in more informal leisure activities as they lacked the financial resources to go to the cinema and there was a greater expectation that spare money should be spent on the household. Trips to local cinemas were convenient and cheap. But when these cinemas closed, trips to the city centre were more time consuming and often prohibitively expensive.

In January 1961, The Star reported that forty-one cinemas had closed ‘in and around Sheffield’ in the past four years and Arnold Favell stated that ‘the drop in attendances made it impossible for some of the very small cinemas to function’.¹⁷¹ Other commentators noted that while inner-city and suburban cinemas were closing, city centre cinemas were increasing their trade. In March 1961, Anthony Tweedale asked ‘[h]ow many times have you walked into a darkened cinema on the outskirts of Sheffield and discovered, when the lights have gone up, that you, and a few rather lonely-looking individuals, are the only ones there?’ His comments highlight the lack of incentives for investing in existing cinemas and the difficulty exhibitors faced in future planning:

The decline of suburban cinemas was the result of the demise of cinema attendance as a regular habit. He claimed that while family films such as Pollyanna (US, 1960) did well in the suburbs, controversial ‘X’ rated films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (UK, 1960) did better in the city centre. Big films such as The Ten Commandments (US, 1956) could also rely on extended runs in city centre cinemas, ‘exhausting their selling-power long before they appear in the suburbs’. He claimed that suburban cinema managers were ‘wizards of a kind’ who have no choice but to show worn copies of old films in dishevelled buildings. He added that ‘[w]hen the last of the suburban halls is finally knocked flat, and you see a petrol pump standing in its place, or a smoking heap of old bricks, I hope you won’t blame the films or the cinemas.¹⁷³

ABC

By 1961 UK cinema attendance had fallen to 449 million, less than a third of its post-war peak. In 1959 and 1960, net cinema closures totalled 425 and 396 respectively.¹⁷⁴ Despite this, ABC opened a new city centre cinema in 1961, showing that large exhibitors consolidated their interests in fewer sites and placed greater emphasis on first-run luxury cinemas that were better able to compete with the attractions of television and rival leisure activities. The circuit had no presence in Sheffield since it relinquished its lease on the Hippodrome in 1948 and the opening of a new prestige cinema occurred at the same time as the company was converting many of its cinemas for other purposes. At its 1961 annual general meeting, chairman Sir Philip Warter stated that while twenty-six of the company’s cinemas had closed in the previous year, it had opened bowling centres in Dagenham and Birmingham and was in the process of converting cinemas in Leytonstone and Manchester.¹⁷⁵ In the same week as the Sheffield ABC opened, Kine Weekly announced that the Regal, Manchester was to be converted into a bowling alley and cinemas in Newcastle and Glasgow were to be converted into bingo halls.¹⁷⁶

The new ABC cinema was ten years in the making. In January 1951, Sheffield estates surveyor W. H. Rothwell reported the lease of a city-centre site at the junction of Angel Street and Bank Street to a cinema company, which proposed to build a 2,200-seat cinema at a cost of £124,000.¹⁷⁷ In July 1953, Rothwell stated that ‘Sheffield needed new kinemas in the city centre to replace those destroyed in the war’ and that they ‘were also needed to bring Sheffield up to standard in this section of the entertainment world’.¹⁷⁸ In 1956, ABC announced plans to build at least five new cinemas, including a ‘2,000-seater at Sheffield’.¹⁷⁹ By October 1958, Alderman J. W. Sterland, chairman of the Town Planning Committee, told The Star that the new ABC was due for completion in January 1960: ‘all details were now almost completed and that within a short time A.B.C would begin building the cinema at the corner of Bank Street and Angel Street’.¹⁸⁰ The opening of the new Odeon cinema and news of the forthcoming ABC cinema generated concerns among exhibitors that too much of Sheffield’s exhibition industry was held in the hands of a small number of large exhibitors. Sheffield CEA members postulated that the arrival of the ABC would affect suburban cinemas (where losses were already greater than first-run city centre cinemas), damage the business of other city centre cinemas, lead to a greater reliance on second-run films and have an adverse impact on valuation rating appeals. Jack Reiss proposed that ‘a delegation should be formed to see the appropriate authority and point out that the city was adequately served with cinemas, that another cinema would be a disadvantage to ratepayers, and to ask about second thoughts about the permission to build’.¹⁸¹ In February 1959, a spokesman for ABC stated that ‘despite the recent closing of suburban picture houses’, they were ‘definitely pushing ahead’ with the new cinema.¹⁸²

Construction work began in May 1960 and ABC’s plans emphasized its comfort, ‘decorative materials’ and ‘contemporary design in keeping with the most modern approach to cinema design’.¹⁸³ Reporter Anthony Tweedale stressed the benefits to Sheffield city centre and declared that ‘the last word in luxury cinemas has materialised in our midst, the city’s film fans have got what they deserved, and Sheffield IS a centre for picture palaces’. He even claimed that the cinema had ‘warmed the hearts of A.B.C.’s rivals who are welcoming the new cinema as a further incentive to Sheffielders to spend their evenings and their pocket money in the quickly expanding city centre’.¹⁸⁴ Its opening night featured the world premiere of British comedy Don’t Bother to Knock (UK, 1961) and personal appearances by Richard Todd, Nicole Maurey, June Thorburn and Dawn Beret. Todd claimed that ‘[i]f you need any evidence of the future we have in films, and in British film in particular, you have only to look around you at this simply marvellous cinema … We have several competitors, television, stately homes, bowling alleys … we think we can cope with them all’. Harold Slack, lord mayor of Sheffield, added that he was pleased that Sheffield was ‘the only city in a wide area where two cinemas had been built since the war’.¹⁸⁵

In a similar fashion to the Odeon, press reports highlighted the ABC’s modern design and technological capabilities:

The Sheffield Telegraph reported that ‘[t]he most advanced ideas and techniques of cinema design have been embodied in the project, resulting in a cinema which upholds the fine traditions of Associated British Cinemas and is a credit to the city’. It praised the sixty-foot ‘mammoth screen’ and claimed that the seating ‘embodies all the latest improvements and has been designed to give spacious knee-room and easy access … features which are sadly lacking in so many cinemas up and down the country’.¹⁸⁷ Ideal Kinema declared that ‘[a]dvanced ideas in design and décor, combined with functional efficiency, make the new ABC, Sheffield, one of the most notable of additions to the Associated British Cinemas circuit’.¹⁸⁸ These press reports used similar hyperbolic language to ABC’s souvenir brochure and it is difficult to accept this praise at face value. The fact that newspapers were a key source of information for cinema-goers meant that they made significant amounts of money from advertising revenue and it was in the interests of the local press to promote the benefits of new cinemas.

In 1962, reporter Anthony Tweedale praised the Odeon and the ABC, stating that they were ‘not white elephants, rather the opposite. Prudent, imaginative, long-sighted officials in London have discovered that the only way to induce families and couples to pay five shillings to see a film is to offer them luxury’.¹⁸⁹ Robert Heathcote was born in 1950 and many of his local neighbourhood cinemas closed in childhood. He stated that the attraction of the ABC and the Odeon cinemas was not just the improved surroundings and better technology, but also the access to first-run films: ‘As soon as a top film come out, it was on their chain … and when you’re a young person you wanted to go and see a film as soon as it came out’.¹⁹⁰ These cinemas were more expensive and in 1961, evening prices at the ABC ranged from 3s to 5s. On Saturday, reduced prices of 1s 6d and 2s were available for children under fourteen. Other interviewees revealed that they were content to remain in their local neighbourhood cinemas. Ernest Walker was born in 1947 and his comments show that city centre cinemas were often inaccessible to adolescents: ‘As I got towards my teens I would have been going to cinemas less and less. And invariably, because the local cinemas were closing down, you went more and more into the city centre’. However, ‘when the local cinemas closed down, you know, it weren’t just that easy to go into town and go to a cinema. Apart from the fact that they probably cost a little bit more money anyway’.¹⁹¹

Further closures

The ABC’s arrival exacerbated cinema closures in Sheffield, and only two days after its opening, Star Cinemas sold the Regal Cinema in Attercliffe: ‘It is believed that the buyers intend to demolish the premises and redevelop the site for commercial use. A lot of money has been spent on the Regal in recent years’.¹⁹² In 1959, the Cinema House was purchased by Mappin and Webb Ltd., but it closed in August 1961. A spokesman for the owners stated that a ‘lot of Sheffielders will be sorry to see it go, but that is the march of progress’.¹⁹³ In November 1960, Sheffield City Council purchased the Hippodrome under a compulsory order and planned to demolish the building as part of the Moorhead improvement scheme. In June 1961, The Star reported that the Corporation planned to purchase Sheffield’s oldest cinema, the Union Street Picture Palace, for £60,000 and demolish it to provide further space for the same scheme.¹⁹⁴

Tweedale was the only commentator to consider the architectural heritage of cinema buildings and reported that before the end of the following year Sheffield would have lost its three oldest cinemas: the Hippodrome, the Palace and the Cinema House.¹⁹⁵ In September 1961, Star reader Brian Parkin complained that, ‘with the closure of several city centre cinemas, smaller towns such as Rotherham and Chesterfield will be its equal soon in entertainments’. He believed that the closure of the Cinema House was already leading to greater queues outside other cinemas and they ‘are forming again where none existed before’. He claimed that the people of Sheffield ‘deserve good entertainment in their own city. They should get it and get it without the futility of that so called game Bingo. Sheffield must replace the Hippodrome and Palace when they have to go’.¹⁹⁶ The Hippodrome, however, did not close until March 1963 and the Picture Palace remained open until October 1964.

Several cinemas were closed because their sites and buildings could be put to a more profitable use. In September 1961, the Sunbeam closed due to ‘lack of patronage’ and the board of directors received ‘an offer from a firm interested in building a petrol station on the site’.¹⁹⁷ Later that month, reports of the Woodseats Palace’s closure highlighted the geographical differences in cinema closures and claimed that there were only three cinemas on the southern side of the city. Derek Eckart, director of Star Associated Holdings said that the cinema ‘has been having a prosperous time, but we have been offered a tempting sum for development’.¹⁹⁸ In January 1962, The Star reported that the Paragon Cinema was to close: ‘The proprietors, it is understood, have been offered a price for the building by a firm of investors’.¹⁹⁹

In the early 1960s, many British cinemas were converted into bingo halls or bowling alleys. In October 1961, Kenneth Kerner saved the Roscoe from closure, ‘re-modernized’ the building and introduced bingo sessions on Wednesday evenings.²⁰⁰ This venture, however, lasted only until April 1962. While many owners found that bingo was more profitable than cinema exhibition, they often retained their Saturday morning matinees. Many adolescent cinema-goers bemoaned the conversion of local cinemas. In 1963, local teenagers organized a protest march in response to news that the Manor cinema was to convert to bingo. Brenda Barnsley and Janice Rainsford collected 150 signatures and the latter stated that ‘[w]e go twice, sometimes three times a week to see films at the Manor. If it closes, our nearest cinema will be at Intake. There are already plenty of alternative places to play bingo’.²⁰¹ Their attempts to save the cinema failed and it reopened as the Manor Casino in July. Seventeen-year-old Barry Mark mounted a similar protest at the Plaza. The manager sated that ‘the step had been taken regretfully, but unfortunately attendances had not been great enough to make the cinema a commercial proposition any more’.²⁰² In 1964, The Star reported that citizens were abandoning bingo and returning to the cinema. ABC manager Reg Helley said that ‘[p]eople are getting tired of what were novelties and are coming back to the cinema’.²⁰³ Promotional activities were also key in attracting patrons away from bingo and Helley was announced as ABC’s champion manager of 1964, receiving a cheque for £750.²⁰⁴ In Sheffield, no cinemas were converted into bowling alleys, but some were demolished and replaced by new buildings. In December 1963, a new £250,000 ten-pin bowling alley was built on the site of the former Paragon cinema, Firth Park.²⁰⁵ The head of Angallan Bowling stated that the new building was ‘one of the few bowling centres in the country that has been built for that purpose. Converted cinemas are a thing of the past’.²⁰⁶

Several cinemas were refurbished and opened under different names. When these cinemas reopened they attempted to increase their box-office revenue by offering more specialized films and attracting niche audiences. In 1959, the News Theatre changed its name to the Cartoon Cinema. In January 1962, it was refurbished and renamed again, becoming the Classic. The Star claimed that it would be the city’s repertory theatre and ‘will show, in the main, films of anything up to 30 years’ vintage, which are considered classics of their kind’. The Apartment (US, 1960) was the first film shown at the cinema, followed by films such as Wuthering Heights (US, 1939), The Robe (US, 1953) and Roman Holiday (US, 1953). If films such as these were popular, reported The Star, ‘they will branch out with more enterprising and unusual ideas – such as a Greta Garbo season’.²⁰⁷ Following the cinema’s opening, Tweedale claimed that it was the ‘the best news Sheffield film fans have had for many years … it promises to bring back one of the most revered old terms in the trade – the film fan. The person who “goes to the flicks,” who makes a habit of it – reserves, perhaps, every Wednesday night for the pictures’.²⁰⁸

In August 1962, the Wicker underwent refurbishment and reopened as Studio 7. It aimed to show films ‘off the beaten track’ and Bernard Rains, regional controller of Star Cinemas stated that ‘[w]e have long thought Sheffield was neglected so far as good international films were concerned. The Wicker has had a certain type of draw over the years. We certainly don’t expect to show many nude films at the new cinema’.²⁰⁹ In October 1962, Studio 7’s opening ceremony featured an appearance by the lord mayor of Sheffield, Alderman P. C. J. Kirkman. Kine Weekly reported that the first film screened was Il Tetto (Italy, 1956. English title: The Roof), ‘a Titanus film, with Italian dialogue and English sub-titles – setting the pattern of films to be shown at the cinema, which will specialise in films of an international character’.²¹⁰ Following the opening, The Star reported that ‘[o]nce upon a time (about ten days ago, in fact) nice people approached The Wicker with the furtive anxiety of a distressed gentlewoman entering a pawnshop … Nice people need tremble no more, for the Wicker was closed a week last Saturday’. The report commented on the cinema’s changing audience profile:

In response to declining audiences and the increased need for comfort in cinemas, the seating capacity was decreased to seven hundred to create more room and it was reported that ‘intimate, comfortable and attractive surroundings make the theme of this “off-beat” film centre’. The Star emphasized the modernist nature of the new exterior, which included neon signs and an aluminium facade.²¹² In December 1962, Ideal Kinema commented that of ‘particular interest is the practice of using aluminium sheet or curtain walling systems to re-face existing buildings, to give them a “face lift” in fact. This can be done with buildings such as cinemas that are still structurally sound but which require a more modern and brighter appearance’.²¹³

Conclusion

In 1945, cinemas were a visible presence in local neighbourhoods and town centres across the United Kingdom, forming an important part of the topography in industrial cities such as Belfast and Sheffield. Declining audiences naturally led to cinema closures and while many of these premises were repurposed, investors found that it was often more profitable to demolish old cinemas and construct new buildings, such as bowling alleys and shops. By 1965 changing leisure habits and urban redevelopment meant that the place of cinemas in the built environment altered dramatically. Beyond providing us with an insight into the diverse reasons for cinema closures, such as dilapidated buildings and rising fixed costs, newspapers reports in Belfast and Sheffield show how these changes were perceived and understood by cinema owners, employees and patrons.

Large operators such as ABC and Rank were better placed than their independent counterparts to cope with the decline in cinema admissions and increased their market share from the 1950s onwards. The preceding analysis showed that they varied their strategies in different UK cities, displaying sensitivity to regional markets and adapting to local conditions. Slum clearance and population shifts physically removed audiences from their local neighbourhood cinemas. Margaret Dickinson and Sarah Street observed that independent cinemas were trapped in a vicious circle: ‘as their takings decreased they became less able to modernise their cinemas, which became less attractive so that takings decreased further’.²¹⁴ Though this statement is undoubtedly true, their research excluded Northern Ireland and this chapter nuances their findings by showing how small chains and independent exhibitors built a relatively high number of cinemas in inner-city and suburban areas of Belfast in the mid 1950s. These case studies of two industrial cities, focusing on the relationship between cinema and the built environment, suggest that cinema-going experiences should be understood not only in relation to the wider social and economic changes discussed in the previous chapter, but also the priorities of cinema exhibitors, commercial developers and local councils.

_______________

¹ J. Klenotic, ‘Putting cinema history on the map: using GIS to explore the spatiality in cinema’, in Explorations in New Cinema History: Approaches and Case Studies, ed. R. Maltby, D. Biltereyst and P. Meers (Chichester, 2011), pp. 58–84; D. Biltereyst, R. Maltby and P. Meers, ‘Exhibition, space and place: introduction’, in The Routledge Companion to New Cinema History, ed. D. Biltereyst, R. Maltby and P. Meers (Abingdon, 2019), pp. 199–201.

² Central Statistical Office, Annual Abstract of Statistics 1949, no. 86 (London, 1949), p. 75; Kinematograph Year Book 1946 (London, 1946), pp. 594–8.

³ Central Statistical Office, Annual Abstract of Statistics 1964, no. 101 (London, 1964), p. 86; Kinematograph and Television Year Book (London, 1963), pp. 353–6.

⁴ For instance, see B. Doyle, ‘The geography of cinemagoing in Great Britain, 1934– 1994: a comment’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, xxiii (2003), 59–71; M. Jancovich, L. Faire and S. Stubbings, The Place of the Audience: Cultural Geographies of Film Consumption (London, 2003).

⁵ Biltereyst, Maltby and Meers, ‘Exhibition, space and place’, pp. 199–201.

⁶ K. Rockett with E. Rockett, Film Exhibition and Distribution in Ireland, 1909–2010 (Dublin, 2011), pp. 80–4.

⁷ Kinematograph Year Book 1947 (London, 1947), pp. 431–3.

⁸ P. Larmour, ‘Bricks, stone, concrete and steel: the built fabric of twentieth-century Belfast’, in Enduring City: Belfast in the Twentieth Century, ed. F. W. Boal and S. A. Royle (Belfast, 2006), pp. 30–55, at p. 42.

⁹ Kinematograph Weekly, 21 June 1945.

¹⁰ Kinematograph Weekly, 21 Nov. 1946.

¹¹ Kinematograph Weekly, 7 Nov. 1946.

¹² Kinematograph Weekly, 26 June 1947; Belfast Telegraph, 23 May 1947; Belfast Telegraph, 13 June 1947.

¹³ Kinematograph Weekly, 3 Jan. 1946.

¹⁴ Kinematograph Weekly, 30 May 1946.

¹⁵ Kinematograph Weekly, 28 Feb. 1946.

¹⁶ Kinematograph Weekly, 1 Aug. 1946.

¹⁷ Kinematograph Weekly, 6 March 1947.

¹⁸ Belfast Telegraph, 27 Feb. 1947.

¹⁹ Kinematograph Weekly, 9 Jan. 1947.

²⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 1 Jan. 1947.

²¹ Belfast Telegraph, 2 Feb. 1948.

²² Kinematograph Weekly, 19 Feb. 1948.

²³ Belfast Telegraph, 8 July 1948.

²⁴ Belfast Telegraph, 11 May 1954.

²⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 14 Oct. 1954.

²⁶ Kinematograph Weekly, 7 Apr. 1955.

²⁷ Kinematograph Weekly, 9 Jan. 1958.

²⁸ Kinematograph Year Book (London, 1963), p. 231.

²⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 17 June 1955.

³⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 11 May 1954.

³¹ Belfast Telegraph, 7–8 Feb. 1955.

³² Belfast Telegraph, 13 Nov. 1948.

³³ Belfast Telegraph, 14 Jan. 1956.

³⁴ Kinematograph Weekly, 4 Oct. 1956; 13 Dec. 1956.

³⁵ Belfast News-Letter, 28 March 1955.

³⁶ Kinematograph Weekly, 7 Apr. 1955.

³⁷ Belfast News-Letter, 28 March 1955.

³⁸ PRONI, FIN/15/6/C/1/91, Entertainments Duty weekly returns, Lido, 1956–7.

³⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 17 June 1955.

⁴⁰ Irish Builder and Engineer, 2 July 1955.

⁴¹ Kinematograph Weekly, 27 Sept. 1956.

⁴² Irish Builder and Engineer, 22 Sept. 1956.

⁴³ Kinematograph Weekly, 30 Aug. 1956; Belfast Telegraph, 31 Aug. 1956.

⁴⁴ Belfast Telegraph, 31 Aug. 1956.

⁴⁵ Kinematograph Weekly, 6 Sept. 1956.

⁴⁶ Interview with Noel Spence, Comber, Co. Down, 26 March 2014.

⁴⁷ Belfast Telegraph, 21 Apr. 1961.

⁴⁸ D. Field and D. G. Neill, A Survey of New Housing Estates in Belfast (Belfast, 1957), pp. 60–3.

⁴⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 5 Dec. 1955.

⁵⁰ Kinematograph Weekly, 12 July 1956.

⁵¹ Interview with John T. Davis, Holywood, Co. Down, 8 Apr. 2014.

⁵² Kinematograph Weekly, 4 Apr. 1957.

⁵³ Gala opening, Alpha Cinema, Rathccole, souvenir programme. Courtesy of Film Hub NI.

⁵⁴ Ideal Kinema, 13 June 1957.

⁵⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 2 Oct. 1959.

⁵⁶ Interview with Noel Spence, Comber, Co. Down, 26 March 2014.

⁵⁷ Kinematograph Weekly, 26 Dec. 1957.

⁵⁸ Belfast Telegraph, 2 July 1958.

⁵⁹ Kinematograph Weekly, 10 July 1958.

⁶⁰ Kinematograph Weekly, 10 July 1958.

⁶¹ Kinematograph Weekly, 23 Oct. 1958.

⁶² Belfast Telegraph, 17 Dec. 1958; Belfast Central Library Cinema Collection, promotional leaflet for Belfast News and Cartoon Cinema, Dec 1958.

⁶³ Belfast Telegraph, 7 Apr. 1965.

⁶⁴ Ideal Kinema, 8 Feb. 1962.

⁶⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 18 Nov. 1960.

⁶⁶ Kinematograph Weekly, 27 Apr. 1961.

⁶⁷ Belfast Telegraph, 20 Apr. 1961.

⁶⁸ Ideal Kinema, 8 Feb. 1962.

⁶⁹ Interview with Norman Campbell, Belfast, 4 June 2014.

⁷⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 16 June 1961; Ideal Kinema, 8 Feb. 1962.

⁷¹ Belfast Telegraph, 28 Sept. 1961.

⁷² Belfast Telegraph, 29 May 1965.

⁷³ Interview with John Campbell, Belfast, 30 May 2014.

⁷⁴ Irish Independent, 1 June 1957; Kinematograph Weekly, 23 Apr. 1959.

⁷⁵ Kinematograph Weekly, 6 March 1958.

⁷⁶ Belfast Telegraph, 27 Nov. 1962.

⁷⁷ Kinematograph Weekly, 6 March 1958.

⁷⁸ Belfast Telegraph, 14 Feb. 1958.

⁷⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 14 Feb. 1958.

⁸⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 3 Oct. 1958.

⁸¹ Belfast Telegraph, 8 July 1959.

⁸² Belfast Telegraph, 20 March 1956.

⁸³ Kinematograph Weekly, 27 Sept. 1956.

⁸⁴ Belfast Telegraph, 18 Sept. 1956.

⁸⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 18 Sept. 1956; Kinematograph Weekly, 26 Dec. 1957.

⁸⁶ Kinematograph Weekly, 24 Apr. 1958.

⁸⁷ The Economist, 11 Oct. 1958.

⁸⁸ Belfast Telegraph, 3 Oct. 1958.

⁸⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 22 May 1959.

⁹⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 22 May 1959.

⁹¹ Belfast Telegraph, 11 Sept. 1959.

⁹² M. Patton, Central Belfast: a Historical Gazetteer (Belfast, 1993), p. 247.

⁹³ Belfast Telegraph, 26 May 1960.

⁹⁴ Kinematograph Weekly, 29 Dec. 1960.

⁹⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 14 Sept. 1961.

⁹⁶ Belfast Telegraph, 2 Aug. 1962.

⁹⁷ S. Harper and V. Porter, British Cinema of the 1950s: the Decline of Deference (Oxford, 2003), p. 245.

⁹⁸ Belfast Telegraph, 5 Oct. 1960.

⁹⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 16 May 1960.

¹⁰⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 12 Apr. 1958.

¹⁰¹ Belfast Telegraph, 25 Nov. 1961.

¹⁰² Ideal Kinema, 8 Feb. 1962.

¹⁰³ Kinematograph Weekly, 12 Oct. 1961.

¹⁰⁴ Belfast Telegraph, 21 Apr. 1961.

¹⁰⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 17 Apr. 1961.

¹⁰⁶ Belfast Telegraph, 29 Apr. 1961.

¹⁰⁷ Belfast Telegraph, 17 Apr. 1961.

¹⁰⁸ Belfast Telegraph, 3 Aug. 1961.

¹⁰⁹ Belfast Telegraph, 21 July 1964; 5 Nov. 1965.

¹¹⁰ Belfast Telegraph, 10 Nov. 1961.

¹¹¹ Irish Independent, 5 Aug. 1963.

¹¹² Belfast Telegraph, 11 March 1963.

¹¹³ Belfast Telegraph, 23 May 1963.

¹¹⁴ Northern Whig, 29 Nov. 1962.

¹¹⁵ Belfast Telegraph, 29 Nov. 1962.

¹¹⁶ Belfast Telegraph, 5 Oct. 1960.

¹¹⁷ Belfast Telegraph, 5 Oct. 1960.

¹¹⁸ Kinematograph Year Book 1947 (London, 1947), p. 505.

¹¹⁹ The Star, 7 March 1959; The Star, 9 March 1959; Kinematograph Weekly, 2 Apr. 1959; The Star, 7 Apr. 1959.

¹²⁰ Kinematograph and Television Year Book 1963 (London, 1963), pp. 306–7.

¹²¹ The Star, 7 March 1950.

¹²² The Star, 25 March 1960.

¹²³ Kinematograph Weekly, 30 March 1950.

¹²⁴ Kinematograph Weekly, 19 May 1955.

¹²⁵ Kinematograph Weekly, 9 Feb. 1956.

¹²⁶ M. W. Hodges and C. S. Smith, ‘The Sheffield estate’, in Neighbourhood and Community: an Enquiry into Social Relationships on Housing Estates in Liverpool and Sheffield, ed. T. S. Simey (Liverpool, 1954), pp. 79–134, p. 8.

¹²⁷ Hodges and Smith., ‘The Sheffield estate’, p. 80.

¹²⁸ Hodges and Smith, ‘The Sheffield estate’, p. 93.

¹²⁹ Hodges and Smith, ‘The Sheffield estate’, p. 103.

¹³⁰ The Star, 3 Jan. 1958.

¹³¹ The Star, 6 Feb. 1958.

¹³² The Star, 28 Nov. 1958.

¹³³ The Star, 25 March 1961.

¹³⁴ The Star, 6 Dec. 1947.

¹³⁵ The Star, 29 March 1955.

¹³⁶ J. Spraos, The Decline of the Cinema: an Economist’s Report (London, 1962), p. 103.

¹³⁷ The Star, 6 July 1951.

¹³⁸ The Star, 28 June 1954.

¹³⁹ The Star, 28 March 1955.

¹⁴⁰ The Star, 6 Sept. 1955.

¹⁴¹ The Star, 8 Dec. 1955.

¹⁴² Kinematograph Weekly, 12 July 1956.

¹⁴³ The Star, 16 July 1956.

¹⁴⁴ Sheffield Telegraph, 17 July 1956.

¹⁴⁵ The Star, 20 June 1956.

¹⁴⁶ The Star, 9 July 1956.

¹⁴⁷ The Star, 14 July 1956.

¹⁴⁸ Kinematograph Weekly, 19 July 1956.

¹⁴⁹ Kinematograph Weekly, 19 July 1956.

¹⁵⁰ The Star, 17 July 1956.

¹⁵¹ S. Hall, ‘Going to the Gaumont’, Picture House, xlii (2018), 50–67, at p. 65.

¹⁵² Kine Sales and Catering Review, 23 Aug. 1956.

¹⁵³ Kinematograph Year Book 1958 (London, 1958), p. 509.

¹⁵⁴ The Economist, 15 Sept. 1956.

¹⁵⁵ The Star, 16 June 1952.

¹⁵⁶ The Star, 1 Jan. 1957.

¹⁵⁷ The Star, 10 Jan. 1958.

¹⁵⁸ The Star, 15 Feb. 1958.

¹⁵⁹ The Star, 10 March 1959.

¹⁶⁰ The Star, 20 Feb. 1959.

¹⁶¹ The Star, 26 Feb 1959.

¹⁶² The Star, 6 March 1959.

¹⁶³ The Star, 10 Nov. 1959.

¹⁶⁴ Kinematograph Weekly, 9 Feb 1958.

¹⁶⁵ The Star, 14 Sept. 1959; The Star, 24 Apr. 1960.

¹⁶⁶ P. Tuffrey, South Yorkshire’s Cinemas and Theatres (Stroud, 2011), p. 120.

¹⁶⁷ The Star, 22 March 1960.

¹⁶⁸ Interview with Andrew and Carol Palmer (pseudonyms), Sheffield, 7 Aug. 2015.

¹⁶⁹ Interview with David Ludlam, Sheffield, 25 June 2014.

¹⁷⁰ C. Langhamer, Women’s Leisure in England (Manchester, 2000), p. 152.

¹⁷¹ The Star, 30 Jan. 1961.

¹⁷² The Star, 25 March 1961.

¹⁷³ The Star, 25 March 1961.

¹⁷⁴ The Kinematograph and Television Year Book 1966 (London, 1966), p. 450.

¹⁷⁵ The Economist, 19 Aug. 1961.

¹⁷⁶ Kinematograph Weekly, 25 May 1961.

¹⁷⁷ The Star, 26 Jan. 1951.

¹⁷⁸ Kinematograph Weekly, 16 July 1953.

¹⁷⁹ Kinematograph Weekly, 10 May 1956.

¹⁸⁰ The Star, 11 Oct. 1958.

¹⁸¹ Kinematograph Weekly, 30 Oct. 1958.

¹⁸² Kinematograph Weekly, 20 Feb. 1959.

¹⁸³ The Star, 6 Apr. 1960.

¹⁸⁴ The Star, 17 May 1961.

¹⁸⁵ Sheffield Telegraph, 19 May 1961.

¹⁸⁶ The Star, 17 May 1961.

¹⁸⁷ Sheffield Telegraph, 18 May 1961.

¹⁸⁸ Ideal Kinema, 8 June 1961.

¹⁸⁹ Sheffield Telegraph, 24 May 1962.

¹⁹⁰ Interview with Robert Heathcoate, Sheffield, 30 July 2015.

¹⁹¹ Interview with Ernest Walker (b. Sheffield), Belfast, 26 Nov. 2014.

¹⁹² The Star, 20 May 1961.

¹⁹³ The Star, 31 July 1961.

¹⁹⁴ The Star, 12 June 1961.

¹⁹⁵ The Star, 17 June 1961.

¹⁹⁶ The Star, 15 Sept. 1961.

¹⁹⁷ The Star, 2 Sept. 1961.

¹⁹⁸ The Star, 20 Sept. 1961.

¹⁹⁹ The Star, 30 Jan. 1962.

²⁰⁰ The Star, 20 Sept. 1961.

²⁰¹ The Star, 15 July 1963.

²⁰² The Star, 3 Sept. 1963.

²⁰³ The Star, 20 March 1964.

²⁰⁴ Kine Weekly, 1 Apr. 1965.

²⁰⁵ The Star, 12 Dec. 1963; The Star, 30 Jan. 1964.

²⁰⁶ The Star, 1 Nov. 1962.

²⁰⁷ The Star, 4 Dec. 1961.

²⁰⁸ The Star, 13 Jan. 1962.

²⁰⁹ The Star, 29 Aug. 1962.

²¹⁰ Kinematograph Weekly, 25 Oct. 1962.

²¹¹ The Star, 11 Oct. 1962.

²¹² The Star, 15 Oct. 1962.

²¹³ Kinematograph Weekly, 6 Dec. 1962.

²¹⁴ M. Dickinson and S. Street, Cinema and State: the Film Industry and the British Government 1927–84 (London, 1985), p. 228.