Picture House

Opened as a cinema called the Picture House in 1913 and was designed by Albert Winstanley. It was built on the instructions of Sydney Tolfree, seated 1,400 and cost £13,000. It had a small stage and orchestra pit.

The Picture House had a simple auditorium with a single balcony that extended down the side almost to the stage wall. The name was changed to Playhouse not long after opening but the Picture House name was still emblazoned across the frontage. In 1921 it was equipped with a Conacher 3 manual 8 ranks organ with an organ chamber on each side of the proscenium. It was the first of Wakefield’s cinemas to be equipped for sound and “The Singing Fool” began its run here on the 8th July 1929.

Used primarily as a cinema it was sold to Classic Cinemas chain and closed around the mid-1980’s and around 1990 the Conacher organ was sold and removed from the building. It has subsequently been used for a skateboard centre and a club.

Little of the features in the auditorium survive but the splendid facade has been restored. By 2009, it was in use as a nightclub named Quest and pub name Mustang Sally’s.

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