New Picture House

In the small Northamptonshire town of Rothwell, to the north of Kettering, the Picture House opened by 1920 (the precise date is not known) in the former 1882-built Oddfellows Hall. It was owned by Len Bailey, a motor engineer, George Kilburn, an inventor, and Arthur Pollard, a traveller for a local boot and shoe factory. The auditorium floor was raked, but there was no balcony.

Power was supplied by a gas engine situated in a yard further up New Street but, by 1930, the cinema was on the mains electric supply. It was equipped with a Morrison sound system.

Sometime during 1945 the Picture House was taken over by Hudson Cinemas and closed for refurbishment. When the cinema re-opened it was called the New Picture House.

In 1948 the cinema was acquired by Rothwell Cinema Company, with a new manager Eric Gillette. A new screen was installed, and two new projectors.

However, the cinema closed on Saturday 19th February 1951.

The building became Taylor’s factory and was then home to a manufacturer of electrical components.

By the time I visited, in July 2005, it was occupied by A. J. Mills, stonemasons, which continues to date (December 2015).

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