Ideal Picture House

863 Manchester Road,
Bradford, BD5 8LT

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Ideal Picture House

Another fairly short lived cinema building survives today — The Ideal Picture House was located in the Bankfoot district on the western side of Manchester Road, south of Bradford city centre, close to the junction with Rooley Lane at Bankfoot. It was a purpose built cinema opening on 15th March 1914. The building cost was £5,000 and it accommodated 700 patrons. It closed before sound was introduced on 30th March 1930 and became a ballroom in 1934 after lying unused for four years.

34 years later in 1962 it became the Ideal Bingo Club, followed by use for storage and then a carpet store. In 2002 the building is once again empty and for sale. The exterior has hardly changed since opening. It retained the Ideal name throughout.

Contributed by Ian Grundy

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on June 9, 2012 at 8:59 am

There is additional historical detail about this theatre on this webpage.

HJHill
HJHill on May 6, 2013 at 8:30 pm

G J Mellor’s “Cinemas of Bradford” gives the cinema owners as Messrs Holmes, Pickles, Whiteside and Barnett; and the ballroom owner as Herbert Shutt. ‘Bert Shutt’, employed my father on the decorating of the ballroom.

The “Ideal” is almost opposite the end of Carbottom Road. The Rooley Lane junction is a distance away.

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