So ... who decided a carpark was a better choice for Manchester than a cinema?

And while we are at it .... who also thought a fast food outlet would be preferable to the Picture House?

Comments, on the back of an old copy of Film Weekly and addressed to Tom Mix.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Lost Manchester cinemas, 1963, Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY 

Cinemas I wish I had visited …………. The Rivoli, Denmark Street

Now the simple basic rule, when starting to write about a Manchester cinema, is always go to Derek Southall’s book first.

The Rivioli, 1972, Denmark Street

It is a delightful slim book packed with information, and I chose to ignore it in my quest for the story of the Rivoli on the corner of Denmark Street and Aberdeen Street, opposite the Whitworth Art Gallery.

Preferring instead to trawl the directories, the newspapers and those equally wonderful guides to all things cinema, which are the Kenematograph Year Books.

I have four for the years,  1914, 1928, 1929, and 1947 and they contain a mass of information, including a full list of all the picture houses, across the country.

And all this was because while doing something entirely different I came across the 1934 OS map for the area around Whitworth Park, and there on Denmark Street was a reference to the Picture Theatre Picture.

That got me going, but also threw up an obstacle because trawl as I did I couldn’t find the Picture Theatre, which of course was not its name.

Leading me back to Mr. Southall and the discovery that the Picture Theatre was the Rivioli, which opened in 1914, and closed in 1960 after its final showing of Pork Chop Hill and Crash Drive.*

The Rivoli, 2015

It had just over a thousand seats, with a stage and three dressing rooms.  In the early 1920s it became a dance hall before reverting back to a cinema in 1929.

It was perfectly positioned to take advantage of the student population and ironically was part of the properties acquired by the University for the redevelopment of the area.

By 1972, it was part of the Music Faculty, and a sign outside tells you that it is now part of the Business School.

Looking up Aberdeen Street to the Rivoli, 1972

I have to say in all the years that I have wandered past, I never gave it a second glance, and only now looking at it with fresh eyes I can see the clues that would suggest it was a cinema, with its entrance on Aberdeen Street.

Location; Denmark Street

Picture; The Tiviloi, 1972, D Wildgoose, m18606 and m18604, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass the Rivoli in 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson, and extract from The Kenematograph Year Book, 1947

*Southall, Derek, The Golden Years of Manchester Picture Houses, 2010

**ibid Southall, page 54

See better days and do better things ……

I have fond memories of the cinema when it was part of the Cornerhouse.

And there will be many who remember it from its earlier cinematic existence.

So I shall await the stories.

Location; Manchester





Picture; that cinema, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Look away ......... all who mourn the passing of the Withington Scala

I have fond memories of the Withington Scala, although what I saw there over the years is now a blur.

But it was handy for the White Lion and that “dive bar” which was actually just part of the converted cellars but to a 19 year old student had an appeal.

As I remember it was covered with posters for Watney’ Red Barrel, which some smart thing in an advertising agency thought would work if the beer was endorsed by a collection of former Soviet leaders, from Lenin to Khrushchev.

I don’t recall Stalin in the parade but I might be wrong.

But back to the Scala, which opened sometime before 1914 as the Scala Electric Palace on Cooper Street could hold 500 cinema goers and was owned by the Scala Electric Palace (Withington) Company.*

And like many picture palaces it fell on hard times in the late 20th century, finally closing and being demolished, although there were brave rescue attempts.

Even so it lasted longer than many of our old early 20th century cinemas.

Andy Robertson, that keen recorder of all we have lost, what we are about to lose and what we have gained, was in Withington said yesterday for a haircut, commenting that “my haircuts are as rare as my visits to Withington which is mainly because I get my haircut in Withington.  

I digress. I think this may be my first picture of the building on ex cinema land, and, something is happening on the corner of Parsonage Road”.

Now not wanting to correct Andy, but he had taken a series earlier last year when the new build was under construction, but here is the almost finished property.

And not content with the successor to the Scala he also snapped that other new build almost opposite, on the corner of Parsonage Road.

This too he had photographed in 2017, when Derek the Demolisher was doing his worst.

At the time I did some research on its history, and ended up remembering that sometime in 1980s I had eaten there when it was a Lebanese restaurant.

Well I say Lebanese, but like the films at the Scala, I can’t remember.
But the nice thing is, that someone will, and I have every confidence will tell me.

They may also check the planning portal to see what the new building will be.

I, being lazy will leave it to them.

Location; Withington

Pictures; new build in Withington, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson, and Wilmlsow Road the White Lion, Scala Cinema,  1960, from the set Withington Lillywhite, Tuck & Sons, courtesy of TuckDB,  http://tuckdb.org/history

*The Kinematograph Year Book, Program Diary and Directory for 1914

From a hole in the ground on Oxford Street ........ today at noon

Now I never said the stories of the end of the Odeon would stop when the last brick wall had tumbled and nor did Andy Robertson.

So here is the continuing story ...... having demolished the walls, exposed the insides, Derek the Demolition man has started on the basements.

They will be the bits few of us will ever have visited and may have no secrets to reveal.

But you never know and so with that as a possibility I commend these two pictures to the cinema public to pour over and come up with anything of interest.

And that just leaves me to speculate on whether any one rescued a bit of the picture house.

I know readers of the blog have owned up to collecting bricks from many of our vanished iconic buildings.

All I can claim is one from Angel Meadow, another from a fine early 19th century house in Chorlton and a stone sett from outside our house.

Location; Manchester

Picture; the Odeon hole in the ground, noon, August 7, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The Odeon ....... one last stubborn stand

Now as everyone knows Andy has been recording the demolition of the Odeon here in the city centre.

And for quite a few weeks we have been debating when the end would finally come.

But not just yet.

Location; Manchester









Picture; the Odeon, lunchtime August 3 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

When even Batman and Superman proved no match for Demolition Man ...... the Odeon is officially now a pile of rubble

Well in all the great movies a super hero saves the day.  

He may ride a horse and go under the name of Tom Mix, or wear his underpants on top of his clothes and change in a telephone box but whether man or woman, alien or no, they would save the day.

The evil ones would be defeated, Little Tommy would sleep peacefully in his bed and the Odeon would still offer to entertain the cinema goer for a few brief hours on a wet Monday afternoon.

But as Andy's last picture testifies all the super heroes were off doing other things.

All that is now left is a pile of rubble, leaving Andy to return when bricks and twisted steel are taken away, the ground broken again and that new office development rises from the hole in the ground.

Location; Manchester

Picture; the Odeon, July 25, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Well why should you look up? ................. the Odeon offers up another memory

Now I won’t be alone in not recognising the powder blue ceiling which Andy Robertson captured in his latest set of pictures of the Odeon as Dennis the demolisher continues his work for Derek the developer.

I admire Andy’s tenacity and his determination to record almost on a daily basis the end of the Odeon.

After all this palace of dreams  will be special to many.

And this I know because people tell me that they remember taking their first “important” date there, and later going back with the children and the grandchildren.

And before television it was where you got your news along with all those impossible ‘B’ movies, made on the cheap, derided at the time and now regarded as “classics”.

None of which helps with the ceiling.

I don’t remember it but I bet someone does.

Location; Manchester



Pictures; the Odeon, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

One more surprise down at the Odeon ......... July 20 2017

Now you would pretty much think that the old Odeon cinema in the centre of town could not offer up any more surprises.

It has been empty for years and the demolition of the building seems almost to rival the building of the Great Wall of China.

Almost every day Andy Robertson has gone down to record the progress in the demise of this picture house.

Along the way he has got some fine shots and I rather like this one the tall towering chimneys of the office building opposite.

In their wisdom the developers had decided to retain the frontage of that old building, but for whatever reason the same bold nod to the past wasn’t on the card for the Odeon.

That said even now there are a few surprises, and Andy found one in the detail from another shot.

At his request to enlarge the particular image I was rewarded with that sign firmly requesting staff “Please do not put rubbish bags on Henry the Hoover”, along with that wall mounted control pad and the hand written list of places in the cinema.

There is a Maria Celeste feel to the picture and you wonder just what else might have been abandoned in the building on the last night.

I doubt that anyone would have had the heart to clean away the last half empty cups of coffee, taken down the posters advertising the last film or given one last run round with Henry the Hoover.

I had hoped I might be able to name the last film shown in 2004, but so far I have yet to track it down, although I do know that it "opened on October 6 1930 with Maurice Chevalier in 'The Love Parade', plus a variety show on stage, and it was equipped with a Wurlitzer 4Manual/20Ranks theatre organ ........ and had a cafe for the convenience of its patrons."*

Apparently there was a move to have it listed but this fell at the last hurdle because there was little left inside that was original.

All of which just leaves Andy’s pictures to reveal a little of what was there in 2004.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; the Odeon, July 20, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

* Odeon Manchester, cinema TREASUERS, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2430

Cutting up the iron ......... not a lot left of the Odeon

Now it is pretty much a comment on the slow lingering disappearance of the Odeon that Andy Robertson is on almost daily watch for its end.

Add caption

And his captions pretty much reflect his regular visits.

The latest three pictures come with just the comment “Odeon Thursday am.”

And as it so happens I too was also passing through town at the same time having been at Central Ref.

At just after 12.10 there was a man busy on cutting up those bits iron.   Pondered on taking a photograph, but this is Andy’s story so I shall just leave it at that.

Location; Manchester







Pictures; the Odeon, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The Odeon reveals a few secrets ....... the ongoing story of its demolition

Now I have seen plenty of pictures of Central Ref over the years but never one framed by a demolition site.

But in the course of recording the end of the Odeon that is exactly what Andy has done.

There in the background is the Library and in front of it a pile of rubble, a JCB and a bit of the inside of the old cinema.

Because this is the moment when Derek the Demolition man has started on the facade of the cinema and in the process opened up the inside to anyone who cares to gaze up into the spaces which most haven’t seen for decades.

I spent many happy hours in there as did my kids.

It was here that I saw West Side Story, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and on one memorable afternoon when I should have been listening to a lecture on American Foreign Policy between the wars I watched Woodstock and wished that I had been there in that field with Country Joe and the Fish instead of a food factory by the river Thames.

But I suppose three days in a field on Max Yasgur’s farm in Orange County, New York listening to everyone from Janis Joplin, Santana, the Who and Jefferson Airplane along with Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, and Canned Heat was never going to happen.

So sometime on a warm September day in 1971 I swapped Mr Wilson for Melanie, Country Joe and lots of happy young people in a field.

And while the Odeon was not that field we had the bonus of choc ices and Kia-ora drinks with the full knowledge that afterwards there was the promise of a few pints and a takeaway.

It has taken sometime for the demolition men to begin on the facade but soon even that will be gone allowing Derek the Developer to impose another new development and leave me to mutter something about abandoning hope and magic for a pile of steel and glass.

And yes I am well aware that at the end the Odeon was not a shinny example of a cinema at its best but it still had something that none of the modern multiplexes can emulate.

And that just leaves me with Andy's comment and question, "looking pretty grim. can you spot the gentlemen's facilities?"

Location; Manchester






Pictures; the Odeon, 2017, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Lingering on ........ the slow demise of the Odeon

Now Andy has been returning to the Odeon regularly to record the end of the cinema.

I have written about it and Andy has recorded it over the year and while the back has gone the front remains.

For both of us it is almost a painful exercise.

I saw many great films there in my youth and in turn took my kids to see many more.

Location; Manchester

Picture, the Odeon, June 19, 2017

*Lost Manchester Cinemas, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/goodbye-to-carry-on-nurse-choc-ices-and.html

Goodbye to Carry on Nurse , choc ices and the back row ..... the Odeon

Now anyone with a nostalgic side should probably look away.

For decades this was the spot of magic nights, a first romantic date and a long love affair with the cinema.

But as Andy Robertson’s pictures show all that is almost gone.

Well actually, sitting in the dark with a Carry on film, a choc ice and those impossibly sweet Kiora orange drinks went a long time ago.

The building has lingered on but is now almost gone.

The boards outside the site announce an office development of “178,000 sq ft of Premium Grade A Office space” and even the imposing facade will vanish.

According to that excellent site Cinema Treasure, “The Paramount Theatre was built in 1930 to the designs of architects Frank T. Verity & Samuel Beverley for the U.K. arm of the American Paramount Theatres chain. 

The Manchester Paramount Theatre was a sumptuous American import.

Verity & Beverley were Paramount Theatre’s chosen architects for their U.K. enterprise — they were also responsible for the Paramount Leeds, Paramount Newcastle-on-Tyne, Paramount Glasgow, Paramount Liverpool, Paramount Birmingham and Paramount, Tottenham Court Road, London. Their architect’s practice continues today as Verity-Beverley.

Originally containing 2,920 seats in orchestra, mezzanine and balcony levels, the Paramount Theatre was the largest of Manchester’s picture palaces to survive as a cinema. 

It opened on 6th October 1930 with Maurice Chevalier in “The Love Parade”, plus a variety show on stage, and it was equipped with a Wurlitzer 4Manual/20Ranks theatre organ. 

The Paramount Theatre also had a cafe for the convenience of its patrons.

In November 1939 the Paramount circuit was obtained by Oscar Deutsch’s chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd. and it was re-named Odeon in April 1940. 

It was twinned in 1973, triplexed in 1979 with a further four screens created in 1992.

The cinema was closed in September 2004 due to competition from the AMC Great Northern 16, which had opened nearby in December 2001. 

In Autumn of 2010, plans were approved by Manchester City Council to demolish the former Paramount/Odeon and redevelop the site for an office building. Preparation for demolition work began in late-June 2013, but demolition work wasn’t commenced until August 2016, and then only a little was done mainly to the interior. Total demolition began in April 2017 and will be completed in June 2017.”*

So for those with a nostalgic disposition you had better look away as Andy’ pictures show the indignity of demolition.

Leaving me to remember standing under those lights and that ceiling.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; the demolition of the Odeon, May 2107, from the collection of Any Robertson

*Cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2430

“Now I must make this a priority” ............. the end of the Odeon

And with these simple words I must make this a priority” Andy has launched a new project chronicling the demolition of one of my favourite cinemas.

I first saw West Side Story there, and later Woodstock, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and later still a shedload of films with our children.

So at least this way the end will be recorded.







Location; Manchester

Pictures; The Odeon, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson