Picture House
7 Granby Street,
Leicester,
LE1 6EH
7 Granby Street,
Leicester,
LE1 6EH
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Grand opening ad from December 16th, 1910, posted.
I visited the box in the 60s. I remember the chief was a very nice lady called, I think, Florence Barton. The throw was very long and (again if my memory is correct) the backing lenses for ‘scope were 9". As a previous correspondent has said, the proscenium was so narrow they had to halve the height for scope. The chief said it was such a popular cinema that you could run a roll of tickets through the projector and still take money.
I visited this place fairly frequently in the early to mid-60’s. It was a very strange cinema due to its “back-to-front” construction. Unfortunately, the screen was severely limited by the width of the building and in Cinemascope days it was like watching the film through a letter box as the top and bottom masking had to be cranked in so much – not a very enjoyable experience. In the left hand wall could still be seen the pierced ornamental grille of the single organ chamber with a matching pattern painted on to the right hand wall. On the teaser above the screen was the old Gaumont British logo, the letters GB in rather “spiky” capitals surrounded by crysanthemum petals (although those who know better inform me that it was a marguerite!)
I saw several films here as a boy.A very smart cinema with those attractive pillars outside. It was an unusual place as you entered right near the screen, but fond memories of going there.