Askew Picture House

Located in the Teams area north of the city centre. The buildings were erected in 1880-82 and had been a butchers, then a Salvation Army barracks from 1894-1904. Converted into a 300-seat cinema to the plans of Gateshead based architect L.H. Armour, it was first licensed as a cinema in 1913 by Cecil Horn, so was known locally as “Horn’s”. It opened in October 1913 with “The Queen’s Jewel”. The cinema remained in the same family and in silent days shared films with the Shipcote Hall in Durham Road. The runners taking the films were paid 8d a night plus 4d tram fare.

The Askew Picture House became known as haunted early on and one of the runners Joseph Harrap was a spiritualist so ideal to investigate in 1914-15. The manager at the time was Dennis Eadie who was an engraver who painted the colour slides between films. One source says the Askew Picture House closed down in 1956 and was demolished in 1968.

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