Its official ..... there will be no more choc ices and Carry on films in Withington

Wilmslow Road, 1930

There will be many, many people who remember the Scala in Withington with fond memories.

I know I do, although like many I gave up on it a long time ago and felt a mix of guilt and regret when it finally closed in 2001.

It began as the Scala Electric Palace had 500 seats and was owned by the Scala Electric Palace (Withington), Ltd and ended its day as Cine City.

In a more simpler age it was what stood for entertainment in the suburbs, but the steady advance of the television followed by the multiplex cinema did it for the Scala

I had all but forgotten the place, but then Andy Robertson decided today to slip down and look at what had become a hole in the ground and was recorded the new development.

Wilmslow Road, 2017

Look closely at the wooden fence and there is an artist’s picture of the completed building.

And not content with one scene of dereliction turned new development he came on the remains of wall directly opposite which he tells me is the “land vacated by a cafe/restaurant which always seemed to me to be a temporary add-on which became semi-permanent if that makes sense.”

Which it does, more so because I can vaguely remember having a meal there possibly back in the early 1990s.

All that is left of that cafe/restaurant

Sadly that is the extent of my memory, but there will be someone with chapter and verse, who no doubt can also fill us all in with the details of the Scala.

Well we shall see, but I hope so.

Location; Withington,








Pictures; Wilmlow Road, 1930, m41845, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council,  http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and the cinema site today and the land opposite, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Andy's new hole in the ground

*The Kinematograph Year Book Program Diary and Directory, 1914, page 347