Leeds lost cinemas

arry_awk · Post by **arry_awk** » Fri 29 Jun, 2007 5:34 pm

Si and scandy (bros!)Bit late opening today and I have 33(!) 'notifiers' from Sec/leedsAND they are stuck on no (9). at the mo' and fed up here.Have managed to open this reply (No 1) anyway. 'Er indoors is on the warpath too so can't stop on long!Si, I dunno if Munki has posted my Rosebanks latest pix from last week.overnite ?.He seems busy with his new website. so no sign of em up to yesterday.got a good'un of your police garage among em!Re. Bushire St. you are about the first person who has any knowledge of those streets! I've found a pic of me aged 6 taken outside our house (No 11).It will give you a laff if I can get it up onsite. Anyway. It looks as if I'll have to shut down and restart as that no.9 mail is still jammed in the inbox and 21 more tofollow!watch this space (I hope!)Sorry DRAPESY Thanx for further 'Welly' info! Used to go to a 'Central caff', first call, as an apprentice 'sparks'. 1945/46. Grand potta tea and jam or bacon butties!Gotta go. cheers arryPS. wasn't this supposed to be just cinemas!!!!?

fluffysheep · Post by **fluffysheep** » Fri 29 Jun, 2007 6:30 pm

I knew Creation used to be the Town & Country Club, but didn't realise it used to be a cinema. It was originally called The Coliseum Theatre & Concert Hall, and was opened in 1885 by the then Prince & Princess of Wales (King Edward VII), and opened as a 3,000 seater cinema in 1905, called Coliseum Cinema, which then changed it's name to the Gaumont Cinema in 1938.Hasn't really changed that much to how it looks today.(Picture & info from Leodis)

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Fri 29 Jun, 2007 6:38 pm

Here's a pic I took of the above a couple of weeks ago - it is much unchanged as you say , although it's hard to make out under the awnings. - being restored though, thats got to be a good thing.

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 12:47 am

I remember going to the Princess on Pontefract Lane at Richmond Hill to see all the horror films, even though I was only 14.Funny though I cannot seem to find any old photos of it. I know they pulled it down years ago.

munki · Post by **munki** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 2:31 pm

Is it true that the T&C also used to be an indoor circus / zoo when it originally opened?It is the source of some of the silliest but almost believable rumours about tunnels under the city centre. A lot of my friends worked there & swore they had seen the entrance to tunnels from what used to be the Underground (Sunday Roasts & Jazz).The revolving bar stools from the Underground now grace the bar of the Pack Horse, Woodhouse Lane.

munki · Post by **munki** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 2:34 pm

Also used to be the site of Cuthbert Brodrick's Cookridge Street Baths, surely one of the saddest losses to the built fabric of the city...

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 9:29 pm

Leodis pic of the Imperial on Kirkstall Road in 1937, 3 years before it closed as a cinema.

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 9:31 pm

...and here it is a mere 70 years later.

farbank · Post by **farbank** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 10:11 pm

Just a mention Drapesy, did the News theatre become the Tatler, after the Tatler closed down.?Why I ask , is because , the Tatler was where I saw my first 'mucky' film.! They used to get all the foreign films there. No dubbing as I recall, just sub-titles. And the one I saw was ''Clochemerle''. It wouldn't even be considered risque by todays standards.But why I originally asked about the change, is because the Tatler was on Boar Ln., approxiamately where the BHS now stands. Its round about that era when I went into the army, so was absent from Leeds for at least the next 3yrs.

drapesy · Post by **drapesy** » Sun 01 Jul, 2007 11:02 pm

farbank wrote: Just a mention Drapesy, did the News theatre become the Tatler, after the Tatler closed down.?Why I ask , is because , the Tatler was where I saw my first 'mucky' film.! They used to get all the foreign films there. No dubbing as I recall, just sub-titles. And the one I saw was ''Clochemerle''. It wouldn't even be considered risque by todays standards.But why I originally asked about the change, is because the Tatler was on Boar Ln., approxiamately where the BHS now stands. Its round about that era when I went into the army, so was absent from Leeds for at least the next 3yrs. Yes it did. Its a bit complex but Robert Preedy's excellent 'Leeds Cinemas Remembered' explains it all;The Tatler on Boar Lane opened in 1915 as the 'City Cinema', changed it's name to 'Savoy' in 1925, to 'Academy' in 1931 and finally to 'Tatler' in 1936. It closed in 1964 and has been demolished since, of course.The News Theatre meanwhile opened in 1938, changed its name to 'Classic' in 1966 to 'Tatler' (or 'Tatler Film Club' to be pedantic') in 1969 and reverted to 'Classic' in 1979 until it's closure as a cinema.