Roxy Cinema

Built as a skating rink. The Hippodrome Theatre, in Barkerend Road, opened as a live theatre on 20th February 1911 (the same day as the Kings Hall). A vast 1,705 seat single floor music hall operated by the MacNaghten Circuit which was converted into a full-time cinema in 1920. By 1930 it had been equipped with a Western Electric(WE) sound system.

In 1955 it was refurbished by Arthur R. Wood and renamed Roxy Cinema. It was operated by the Leeds based Star Cinemas chain. It closed on 8th November 1961 and became a bingo hall which lasted until 1980. The Roxy Cinema then became a Mosque, which it still is in 2002.

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

JimRankin on May 27, 2004 at 2:16 am

It is amazing how many theatres are named ROXY in imitation of the once famous name of the New York City panjandrum of the movie palace: Samual Lionel Rothapfel = “Roxy”. His namesake was the famous ROXY THEATRE in NYC, which outlasted him by only 25 years when it was demolished in 1960. The whole story is in that landmark book “The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall in 1961. Various editions of it are sometimes available from www.Amazon.com, but only the first edition contains the color plates.

CSWalczak on June 8, 2012 at 11:36 am

There is additional information about this theatre on this webpage.

Ian on January 18, 2019 at 1:47 am

Photos from 1998 (as a mosque):–

EXTERIOR – FRONT

EXTERIOR – REAR

INTERIOR – SCREEN END

INTERIOR – AUDITORIUM TO REAR