Feature - The Hyde Park Picture House.

Armley Lass 47 · Post by **Armley Lass 47** » Fri 07 May, 2010 12:40 pm

I did frequent it a few times in my youth and we used to catch the 49 bus from the bottom of Pickering Street where I lived. I used to go more to the Lyceum as it wasnt as far as the Hyde Park cinema.I cant remember what it looked like inside but I think they used to call it the 'flea pit' didnt they?Sorry if its not that one but the memory fades lol.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 07 May, 2010 9:39 pm

Armley Lass 47 wrote: I did frequent it a few times in my youth and we used to catch the 49 bus from the bottom of Pickering Street where I lived. I used to go more to the Lyceum as it wasnt as far as the Hyde Park cinema.I cant remember what it looked like inside but I think they used to call it the 'flea pit' didnt they?Sorry if its not that one but the memory fades lol. The Hyde Park Cinema is indeed on the old 49 route from Old Farnley. The cinema is now owned by the Council via the Leeds Grand Theatre and City Varieties department and has been sympathetically improved in recent years. I think I'm right in saying that when the Lounge at North Lane was extensively refurbished the nice red plush seats were bought for the Hyde Park - and there are still red gas lights along the side walls - its a gem of a place.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 07 May, 2010 9:49 pm

Your right about the seats, and they still have the gas lamps going in there Blakey. I have some interior shots where you can see them herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/7 ... 16/detail/

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 07 May, 2010 10:42 pm

Phill_dvsn wrote: Your right about the seats, and they still have the gas lamps going in there Blakey. I have some interior shots where you can see them herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/7 ... 16/detail/ Wonderful pictures Phill - thank you. I was born in 1936 at the top house in Chestnut Avenue - where oh where have all those years gone ??

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 07 May, 2010 10:59 pm

BLAKEY wrote: Phill_dvsn wrote: Your right about the seats, and they still have the gas lamps going in there Blakey. I have some interior shots where you can see them herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/7 ... 16/detail/ Wonderful pictures Phill - thank you. I was born in 1936 at the top house in Chestnut Avenue - where oh where have all those years gone ?? It's great we still have these little timewarp places of yesteryear i agree Blakey. Nowt like getting the tram to the pictures, a couple of pints of Melbourne, then fish and chips, just in time to catch the last tram home on a blowy November night I'm too young to remember that, but i kind of envy you in a way. You should have another visit for old times sake methinks

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Sat 08 May, 2010 8:34 am

Phill_dvsn wrote: BLAKEY wrote: Phill_dvsn wrote: Your right about the seats, and they still have the gas lamps going in there Blakey. I have some interior shots where you can see them herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/7 ... 16/detail/ Wonderful pictures Phill - thank you. I was born in 1936 at the top house in Chestnut Avenue - where oh where have all those years gone ?? It's great we still have these little timewarp places of yesteryear i agree Blakey. Nowt like getting the tram to the pictures, a couple of pints of Melbourne, then fish and chips, just in time to catch the last tram home on a blowy November night I'm too young to remember that, but i kind of envy you in a way. You should have another visit for old times sake methinks I do have it in mind to see a film at the "Hyde Park" again one day, and I always glance at the adverts outside it when on the 56 bus, but honestly I am always so busy even after nine years retired that I don't seem to find time. When I think what other folks achieve daily I have to admit that I am a bad "manager" of the hours - but never mind, I do get a lot of happiness from dreaming of the "good old days" and I'm sure in general that they were. I see that "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" - a real French classic - is coming to the Cottage Road Cinema shortly. Takes me back to 1951, when our form at Ilkley Grammar School were taken to the Tower Cinema in New Briggate to see it.

th3g · Post by **th3g** » Thu 21 Jul, 2011 6:07 pm

I signed up just to leave a message on this thread.I was at university in Leeds and lived just round the corner with my girlfriend. We made many visits to the Hyde Park Picture House.The day before christmas eve one year when Hyde Park was pretty deserted as most students had gone home, we went to see It's a Wonderful Life. She had never seen it and loved it.As we left the cinema after the film it began to snow, possibly one of the most romantic moments of my life.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Thu 21 Jul, 2011 6:57 pm

th3g wrote: I signed up just to leave a message on this thread.I was at university in Leeds and lived just round the corner with my girlfriend. We made many visits to the Hyde Park Picture House.The day before christmas eve one year when Hyde Park was pretty deserted as most students had gone home, we went to see It's a Wonderful Life. She had never seen it and loved it.As we left the cinema after the film it began to snow, possibly one of the most romantic moments of my life. Awww. That's nice. Somewhat embarrassingly to say but in my 66 years in Leeds I have never been to the Hyde Park Picture House.I often went to the cinemas (the flicks) up to the late 1950s or early 1960s when I stopped going and never went again until during the 1990s. My haunts were the Shaftesbury, Hillcrest, Star, Princess, Regal, Ritz, Regent, Clock (that was posh!), Dominion and one I cannot recall the name of that was off Compton Road nearish to the library. There were also visits to the ones in the centre of Leeds.

Johnny39 · Post by **Johnny39** » Thu 21 Jul, 2011 7:06 pm

Leodian wrote: th3g wrote: I signed up just to leave a message on this thread.I was at university in Leeds and lived just round the corner with my girlfriend. We made many visits to the Hyde Park Picture House.The day before christmas eve one year when Hyde Park was pretty deserted as most students had gone home, we went to see It's a Wonderful Life. She had never seen it and loved it.As we left the cinema after the film it began to snow, possibly one of the most romantic moments of my life. Awww. That's nice. Somewhat embarrassingly to say but in my 66 years in Leeds I have never been to the Hyde Park Picture House.I often went to the cinemas (the flicks) up to the late 1950s or early 1960s when I stopped going and never went again until during the 1990s. My haunts were the Shaftesbury, Hillcrest, Star, Princess, Regal, Ritz, Regent, Clock (that was posh!), Dominion and one I cannot recall the name of that was off Compton Road nearish to the library. There were also visits to the ones in the centre of Leeds. I think the Vogue, previously named the Western, is the cinema you are missing.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Thu 21 Jul, 2011 7:16 pm

Thanks Johnny39. That's the one.