Cine City
Wilmslow Road and Copson Street,
Manchester,
M20 3BG
Wilmslow Road and Copson Street,
Manchester,
M20 3BG
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Never went in but remember seeing it during the late 90s as one of my busses to college stopped directly outside it. Always thought it looked really inviting as the lights would really illuminate the street, especially on dark or rainy evenings. I remember one time there was a poster for Robocop 3 and me and my friend had this massive conversation about Robocop because of it. What a random memory!
The Kinematograph Year Book for 1914 has the name as “Scala Electric Palace” and the address as Cooper St (later Copson St) which ran down the side of the building. The operators were Scala Electric Palace (Withington) Ltd and the capacity was given as 500.
It was almost certainly designed by Campbell & Fairhurst, and bears a close resemblance to the Dingle Picturedrome and the Belmont Picture House, both in Liverpool and both known to be designed by C & F.
The Stafford Picture House is also almost certainly by C & F.
In my notes I have that Cine-City opened in 1912 as the Scala Palace, but (like most others) I rely on others for information.
Cine City Wilmslow Road, Withington. M20 3BG. (0161) 445 9888 ex 3301/8181. Seats (by 1983): 1:150, 2:150, 3:150. Seats (by 2001): 1:130, 2:132, 3:154.
Opened 1912 as Scala Palace. Architects: probably Campbell & Fairhurst. Renamed Scala by 1940. 603 seats by 1961. Renamed Cine City in the 1970s. Closed 23 Jan 1997 (Manchester’s oldest cinema). Reopened. Still open as at 8 April 2000. [Closed by September 2001].
I’ve taken a number of photos of Cine City being demolished, and have uploaded them to Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons – see View link .
A few more of the Cine City here, operating as a cinema in 1988 (scanned images):-
Exterior
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Interior
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Opened as the Scala Electric Cinema on 11th January 1913 with a seating capacity of 675 in stalls and circle areas. When it closed as a triple cinema in 2001 it had 130 seats in Screen 1, 143 seats in Screen 2 and 154 seats in Screen 3.