Empire Palace Cinema

Located in Crook, County Durham in the Market Place at South Street. The Empire Theatre was opened on 14th November 1910. It had a 20 feet wide proscenium and a 14 feet deep stage. There were two dressing rooms. It was soon taken over by Northern Counties Electric Theatres Ltd, and went over to cinema use, renamed Empire Electric Palace. It was equipped with a British Thomson Houston(BTH) sound system in 1929, and by this time it was operated by North East Coast Cinemas Ltd. owned by Sol Sheckman, which later became part of his Essoldo circuit.

The Empire Palace Cinema was closed by Essoldo and converted into a bingo club around 1967. In 2013, the building is in use as Speedo Car Parts. In 2015 there is a local group who aim to restore and re-opened the Empire Electric Palace.

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

eep_crook on June 8, 2015 at 1:31 pm

We are looking to restore this cinema. Please visit our web page and help us if you can. www.eep-crook.org

terry on September 1, 2020 at 8:41 pm

Photo uploaded taken presumably in either the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.

Alanuk on July 14, 2023 at 10:41 pm

Lots of interior photos from 2015 at https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/gallery/glorious-edwardian-cinema-could-back-10533409