Majestic Cinema, Leeds

The Majestic Cinema is a Grade II listed building on City Square, Leeds, occupying the corner of Quebec Street and Wellington Street.[1][2]

The building in 2011 with the original slate roof which was lost in the fire

History

It was built in 1921 to 1922 on land bought from Leeds City Council for £80,000, occupying a prime position beside the Leeds railway station in the city centre, comprising a cinema seating 2,400 and a restaurant seating 300 plus a basement ballroom.[3] It opened in 1922, the first film being Way Down East which was seen by 50,000 people in its first week. From 1961 afternoon bingo started in the ballroom, becoming a full-time bingo hall in 1967. The Sound of Music ran from April 1965 to September 1967, the longest movie run ever in Leeds. The cinema closed in 1969 with the last film being The Good, the Bad and the Ugly but the business continued as Top Rank Bingo Hall.[3] This closed in 1996 before being converted as the Majestyk Nightclub in 1997.[4] This in turn closed in 2006, but a smaller downstairs venue Jumpin' Jacks remained open and the upper room continued to be used as a concert venue till 2008.[4] From 2012 it was being converted into mixed leisure and retail use, and was largely complete until it was gutted by fire in 2014, both the roof and most of the interior being destroyed.[4][5] Work began in 2018 to convert it into offices.[6][7] In April 2019 it was announced that Channel 4 would site its headquarters in the Majestic.[8]

Architecture
136 Majestic (16287152192)

It is a 2-storey building plus basement and attics, clad in Marmo artificial marble (originally white, now weathered grey[2]) by the Leeds Fireclay Co in Beaux-Arts style. There is a round main entrance. There was a central 10 m dome and steep slate roofs.[1]

References
  1. Historic England. "Top Rank Bingo Hall (1375048)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  2. Wrathmell, Susan (2005). Pevsner Architectural Guides: Leeds. Yale University Press. p. 108. ISBN 0-300-10736-6.
  3. Preedy, Robert (2005). Leeds Cinemas. Stroud: Tempus. pp. 21–24. ISBN 0752435833.
  4. Grundy, Ian. "Majestic Cinema". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. Hudson, Neil (1 October 2014). "Leeds Majestyk fire: 'Glorious dome' lost forever says heritage chief". Yorkshire Evening Post. Leeds. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  6. "Construction work begins on £40m redevelopment of Leeds city centre landmark". Yorkshire Evening Post. Leeds. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  7. "Majestic". majesticleeds.co.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-47779148

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