Premier Picture House

Keighley Road and Canal Walk,
Skipton, BD23 2DZ

Unfavorite No one has favorited this theater yet

Additional Info

Previous Names: Premier Picture Palace

Nearby Theaters

Dated September 1928

The 1914 Kinematograph Year Book lists two cinemas in Skipton: the Gem Cinema on Sackville Street which was presumably the later Plaza Cinema and the Glyn Picture Palace, a 500 seater at no specified address. The owner of the latter was listed as Sedgwick.

The Premier Picture Palace on Keighley Road is listed in the Kinematograph Year Book 1927 as owned by the Premier Picture Palace Co. (Skipton) Ltd. Was it the Glyn? The uploaded map and aerial photograph show it was set back from the road on a site opposite the Unicorn Hotel. Now known as Canal Walk, more or less where Poundland is today (2017). It had one show nightly and three on Saturdays; with two programmes per week. Those details are also in KYB 1928 and 1929.

In KYB 1931 the owner was a Richard Dean and the, now, Premier Picture House is doing ‘Pictures and Variety’. The show arrangements were the same. It is asterisked to indicate it was wired for sound, but no system was indicated. In KYB 1933 it was ‘WE’, Western Electric.

KYB 1935 indicated 566 seats. The reference to ‘Variety’ was dropped in KYB 1936. The details remained unchanged up to KYB 1948.

There were new owners in KYB 1949: M Hartley & Sons of Market Buildings, Barnoldswick, who looked to have also acquired the Plaza Cinema. Seating was 500. Shows were once nightly, twice Saturday, with matinees on Tuesday and Saturday. Two programmes per week. In KYB 1957 the details were the same. The closing date is not known. The area has been comprehensively cleared and rebuilt.

Contributed by H J Hill

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

HJHill
HJHill on June 25, 2017 at 3:26 am

The cinema is demolished, not closed (did I post wrong?)

The street address was Keighley Road (not Swadford Street), Skipton; the same as the Regal which was nigh opposite (as in the photo).

A business called Fulton’s Foods, part of a large retail building, sits on the site of the Premier. It is to the right of Poundland in the Streetview (my error). BD23 2DZ is the correct postcode and is presumably for the entire retail building (of many businesses) which has its principal entrance on Swadford Street (but the Premier was not on Swadford St).

tost
tost on February 6, 2018 at 3:25 am

I seem to remember the Co Op used the gutted out building as a supermarked in the 70s before it was demolished late 70s early 80s to build Sunwin house (the new Co Op). It had the fancy cinema/theater style plaster work on the walls you could tell it was a old cinema/theater. Sunwin house and all round there was flooded out in the 80s wonder if it was ever flooded as a cinema? Co Op sold Sunwin house when they hit financial difficulties a few years ago and it was split into separate units.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.