Bensham Picture House

Located in the northwest Gateshead district of Bensham at the top of Bensham Bank. The Bensham Picture House was opened on 28th February 1920 with Constance Talmadge in “Sauce for the Goose”. Due to the lay of the land, it was impossible to have a circle seating area, so a stadium style area was built, which was a raised stepped seating section at the rear of the auditorium. Seating was provided for 234 in the pit, 312 in the stalls and 517 in the ‘circle’. It was the first cinema in Gateshead to screen a ‘talking picture’ when a RCA sound system was installed on 5th August 1929 and the film Arizona" starring Warner Baxter was screened. It had a 28ft wide proscenium.

From November 1961 bingo was played on Wednesday & Sunday afternoons. The final film screened at the Bensham Picture House was Steve Reeves in “Hercules” on 14th September 1963. It became a full time bingo club from 29th September 1963 which operated until it closed in 1984. The vacant building was attacked by vandals and was demolished in July 1986.

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