Astra 1 & 2 Cinemas

Wards End,
Halifax, HX1 2AB

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Gaumont-British-Picture Corp., Ltd., Rank Organisation

Functions: Nightclub

Styles: Baroque

Previous Names: Picture House, Gaumont Theatre

Nearby Theaters

The Picture House Halifax

The Picture House on Halifax’s popular Wards End opened on 20th October 1913. It was built for Provincial Cinematograph Theatres(PCT) but was quickly taken over by Associated Provincial Picture Houses(APPH), a division of Gaumont British Theatres.

A fire in 1947 kept it closed for nearly a year and on re-opening it was called the Gaumont. The Gaumont was closed by the Rank Organisation in 1960 screening Anthony Perkins in “Psycho”, and the building remained unused for several years before re-opening as a Top Rank Bingo Club. It was sold to Hutchinson Leisure in 1973, becoming a Surewin Bingo Club. Later Hutchinson Leisure created two small cinemas of 200 seats Astra 1 & 2 in the former balcony, whilst continuing with bingo on the ground floor. These closed on 5th June 1982.

A few years later the entire building was transformed into a nightclub, known as the Coliseum, apparently losing most of the cinema interior in the process. In 2011 it operates as a nightclub known as Liquid.

The former Picture House is a Grade II Listed building.

Contributed by Ian Grundy

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on April 18, 2007 at 10:12 am

A vintage photograph of the Gaumont Theatre in September 1949:
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Ian
Ian on October 4, 2007 at 5:24 am

Two more exteriors from October 2007 here:

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terry
terry on November 9, 2020 at 5:02 pm

The last film to play at the Gaumont in 1960 was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ and staff at the ABC told me that on the very last night the queue was round the block.

rivest266
rivest266 on October 18, 2021 at 1:43 pm

Grand opening ad posted.

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