Keighley Picture House

Keighley Picture House is a cinema located in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England.

Keighley Picture House
Interior of Keighley Picture House

It opened in 1913 as a receiving house theatre which also showed films with a large auditorium containing stalls and balcony seating.[1] In the years to come it was used for live shows and pop concerts as well as regular film screenings. Sometime after the Second World War ended the Balcony was extended making the total number of seats close to 1000, the second biggest auditorium in Keighley after the Hipperdrome/Queens Theatre. In 1954, the independent locally owned cinema was purchased by Essoldo cinemas and folded into their chain, losing its "Picture House" moniker in the process and becoming "Keighley Essoldo".[2]

In or around 1974 the Essoldo chain was absorbed by Classic Cinemas making Classic the biggest cinema chain in Europe at that time. Classic were responsible for closing and gutting what remained of the venues theatre and converting the balcony into a second screen and projection room for the main screen which is how it remains today.

In 1983, Classic went bankrupt[1] and the cinema was acquired from creditors by Bradford Metropolitan Council who leased it to a small local firm or co-operative venture. This group restored the cinema to its former moniker "The Picture House". They in turn went out of business in 1991 and the cinema was closed but was eventually leased from owners Bradford Met Council by the Northern Morris company and re-opened in 1996. Northern Morris Associated Cinemas currently own and operate six cinemas in the North of England including; The Cottage Road Cinema in Headingley, Leeds, The Rex at Elland, The Plaza at Skipton, The Roxy at Ulverston and The Royalty at Bowness-on-Windermere.

Currently there is a main downstairs auditorium seating about 300 and a smaller upstairs auditorium that seats about 90.

In 2013 the cinema was upgraded to digital projection in both auditoria, with 2k projection and Dolby 5.1 sound.

References
  1. Young, Chris (9 July 2013). "Keighley Picture House marks 100 years of showing films". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  2. Priestley, Mike (16 December 2006). "Style with double 's' at Essoldo". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
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