Dancehouse Theatre
10 Oxford Road,
Manchester,
M1 5QA
10 Oxford Road,
Manchester,
M1 5QA
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A much more detailed history of the building, along with some wonderful photos, is available here: https://www.visitmanchester.com/ideas-and-inspiration/blog/read/2019/10/delving-into-the-history-of-the-dancehouse-manchester-discover-more-about-the-past-of-this-impressive-building-on-oxford-road-b996
I only ever knew it as The Regal Twins, and was taken there often as a child and into my youth. No, Ken Roe, both houses had similar fit-out. The prosceniums were framed by a back-lit lattice-work and my over-riding memory is of Duane Eddy being played pre-show and before and after the interval. I have visited the surviving auditorium, for shows at The Dancehouse. The stage has been much extended, as can be seen in Ian Grundy’s excellent photos on Flikr. The whole building is operated by The Northern Ballet School, who use the auditorium as their personal performance space and also hire it out to other dance schools in the area. Full photos of the revamped interior are available on the Northern Ballet School website: http://www.northernballetschool.co.uk/en/welcome
This theatre was the Worlds first multiplex(although there a cinema in Cairo, Egypt(name unknown?) showing 2 different films on two different screens in the same auditorium(unique?)).
I worked at the Studio’s from 1970 to 1973. The Westar projectors with Westrex 2002 sound heads were installed in 1958 with 3D adaptations and BTH Xenon, later came the Type D Projectormatic. In 1972 Studio was closed and converted in to Studios 2, 3 and 4. Studio 5 was located 2 floors below the projection room in what was the office of North West Entertainments Ltd. A 5th Westar was brought in for Studio 3 and the 4 original projectors were used for the rest. Westrex 5009 amplifiers were used in Studios 2, 3 and 4 the original Westrex 2042 amplifiers being used in Studio’s 1 and 5. The Chief projectionist was Ken Kay and his ghost is thought to still haunt the place.
I waorked at the Twins in the670’s There were 2 projection rooms back to back the projctors were Kalee model 11 with GK “President Arcs” and Westex sound. Acommon fault was that the psssenger lift from the Foyez used to get jammed and one of us used to have to get down in the mechanism and free it up usually when the Cinema was very busy!
I remember being at a meeting with an executive of AMC of America. When He told me that they had the first 2 screen cinema in the World… I had great pleasure in asking him. What was Regal Mancester doing in the early 1930’s… being a twin cinema in the UK.. :o) giving my best smile…
A photo from 1988 showing almost all of the frontage with the Studio name still in place
STUDIOS CINEMA MANCHESTER
Very Nice,Cool Name too!
photos from sept 2009
exterior (possibly finally fitting a proper marquee)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3970101194/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3970102746/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3970118986/
side and rear
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3970107278/
interior of on of the shop units showing the remaining lobby ceiling plasterwork
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3969332325/
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A couple more interior photo’s here:–
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The architects for the Twin Regal Kinemas were Pendleton & Dickenson. Reports state it was equipped with a Mustel organ.
Listed in the Kine Yearbook;1934 edition as the Twin Regal Kinemas with a seating capacity given as 1,600. The stage was 6 feet deep, there were 4 dressing rooms and a cafe attached. Maybe only one of the auditoriums had the stage and dressing room facilities?
By the time the 1954 edition of Kine Yearbook was published, all the above details remained the same (including the name Twin Regal Kinemas) but the seating capacity had been slightly reduced to 1,526.
Exterior photo here – after closing but before the canopy and name were altered:–
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As an American, rest assured that we’re far enough along nowadays that we know that term has multiple meanings, just as it probably does throughout the British Isles too these days.
Woody Darling,
Your story was wonderful, but when you write that there were dirty old trouser fumblers hanging round the door having a fag it can mean something completely different in American English for those that dont understand the true meaning of the word fag. Be careful with that phrase.
i remember this cinema when i was a student and we used to miss lectures and watch movies for only 50p per ticket, the big screen was one of the complete original screens with allthe plasterwork and the original seats which were very hard and you had to move around a lot to find two next to each other that wernt broken, the proscenium dated from the 60’s and had multicoloured metal star lights around it, screen 2 was fairly big and had a 70’s ceiling and curtained walls, it had a crazy 60’s oil lamp projector on the screen inbetween shows which gave a real hippy feel to the place, sc 4 and 5 were tiny boxes with bright blue seats and the curtains had rotted away so there was only the metal tabs that swung into place if it was a scope film, the remaining screen was one i didnt visit (honest) it showed continuous soft porn and there were always lots of dirty old trouser fumblers hanging round the door having a fag (ahh the days of smoking cinemas)
it closed when then owners Cannon opened a new mulitplex across town at Salford Quays 9the second in the UK) which has since closed itself, victim of the many new megaplex’s that surround manchester
i really missed this place as it was right by the university and very handy, it sat vacant for years until it became the dancehouse and its now rather posh and in some ways lost its charm
NB the cafe next door has the same zingy art deco plasterwork on its ceiling