Gaiety Picture House
17 Tangier Street,
Whitehaven,
CA28 7UZ
17 Tangier Street,
Whitehaven,
CA28 7UZ
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The Gaiety Picture House opened on 15th April 1922 with 1,480 seats and was one of three cinemas in Whitehaven. It is now the only survivor (the Queens Cinema and the Empire Theatre having bitten the dust).
The style of the cinema - 1,030 seats in the stalls and 450 in the single balcony - was Greek and it had an elaborate fluted barrel-vaulted roof.
It was split into 2 horizontally in 1980 with the circle, which retains its original plasterwork, becoming a 264-seat cinema. The stalls were transformed into a bingo hall. The cinema section closed with “Pirates of the Caribbean” in 2003, leaving the bingo operation in the former stalls to continue to operate successfully. The cinema section was re-opened 24th October 2015.
Contributed by
Ian Grundy
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Sadly this fine cinema (a single screen) closed in 2003 due to competition from a small multiplex. The bingo operation continues in the stalls area so in the short term the cinema will be structurally maintained but the long term is now far less secure for this small town gem.
Exterior photo here:–
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This cinema reopened last weekend! 24/10/2015👍👍👍
Some interesting shots of the Gaiety at: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/gaiety-cinema-whitehaven-nov-2009-report.44916/