Now depending on your age you may remember the old Forum Cinema in Northenden as somewhere to watch the annual pantomime, drink tea in its cafe or take a waltz around its ballroom and of course enjoy a film.
For the Forum Cinema on the corner of Palatine Road and Longley Lane was all of these things and more.
It opened in 1934 and was run by the independent Forum Company before being taken over by the ABC chain in 1936 who continued to run it until it closed in 1974, after which it was for a while the Forum Theatre and is now an Assembly Hall for the Jehovah’s Witness.
Along the way it boasted a Wurlitzer theatre organ which had originally been installed in the Cameo Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio and had a fully equipped stage, stage house and dressing rooms.*
In its time it was known as the Forum Cinema, the ABC and the ABC Wythenshawe and unlike so many this 1,904 seat picture house opened and closed with just the one screen.
I have to say that I never went despite the fact that I regularly passed it on my way to work. That said I was always impressed by its sheer grandeur all of which is reflected in Peter’s painting.
I doubt I will ever cross the entrance hall but I am pleased that it has been saved and continues to have a presence in Northenden.
Painting; the Old Forum Cinema, Palatine Road, Northenden © Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures
* ABC Wythenshawe, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/22563
It opened in 1934 and was run by the independent Forum Company before being taken over by the ABC chain in 1936 who continued to run it until it closed in 1974, after which it was for a while the Forum Theatre and is now an Assembly Hall for the Jehovah’s Witness.
Along the way it boasted a Wurlitzer theatre organ which had originally been installed in the Cameo Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio and had a fully equipped stage, stage house and dressing rooms.*
In its time it was known as the Forum Cinema, the ABC and the ABC Wythenshawe and unlike so many this 1,904 seat picture house opened and closed with just the one screen.
I have to say that I never went despite the fact that I regularly passed it on my way to work. That said I was always impressed by its sheer grandeur all of which is reflected in Peter’s painting.
I doubt I will ever cross the entrance hall but I am pleased that it has been saved and continues to have a presence in Northenden.
Painting; the Old Forum Cinema, Palatine Road, Northenden © Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures
* ABC Wythenshawe, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/22563
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