The Grosvenor Picture Palace, now known as the Footage, is a former cinema and current pub at the corner of Grosvenor Street and Oxford Road in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, United Kingdom. Built in 1913–15, it was the largest cinema outside London in its day. It is now a Stonegate pub.

History

The Grosvenor Picture Palace was designed in 1913 by

Percy Hothersall The English surname Percy is of Normans, Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came i ...

(who later designed Manchester's first supercinema, The Piccadilly, off

Piccadilly Gardens Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, on the edge of the Northern Quarter. It takes its name from the adjacent street, Piccadilly, which runs across the city centre from Market Street to London Road. The ga ...

in 1922). It is located at the corner of Grosvenor Street and Oxford Road in Chorlton-on-Medlock. The cinema opened on 19 May 1915, featuring Blanche Forsythe in '' Jane Shore''; it was described at the time as "Roman-Corinthian of the later Renaissance influence". It dates from the period when the first permanent cinemas were being built, with the distinctive design acting as "ostentatious advertising". The cinema had a capacity of just under 1000 people, making it the largest cinema outside London in its day. A billiard hall was installed in the basement in the 1930s. It was operated by the H.D. Moorehouse chain, before being acquired by Star Cinema Group in the early 1960s, who used the building both for cinema and bingo. It showed features such as

Steve Reeves Stephen Lester "Steve" Reeves (January 21, 1926 – May 1, 2000) was an American professional bodybuilder, actor, and philanthropist. He was famous in the mid-1950s as a movie star in Italian-made sword-and-sandal films, playing the protagon ...

in '' Hercules Unchained''. It was never a commercial success due to its distance from Manchester's city centre. The last films shown were ''

The Passionate Demons ''The Passionate Demons'' ( no, Line) is a 1961 Norwegian drama film directed by Nils Reinhardt Christensen. It was entered into the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. Cast * Margarete Robsahm - Line * Toralv Maurstad - Jacob * Henki Kolstad - Gabrie ...

'' and '' Attack of the Crab Monsters'' on 18 May 1968, after which the building was used exclusively for bingo. It was later used as a Riley's Snooker Club for several years; it was then boarded up for several years. In 1990, the building became a

Firkin Brewery The Firkin Brewery was a chain of pubs in the United Kingdom. The original UK chain is now defunct, but a number of pubs operate under the Firkin name in other countries. The chain took its name from the firkin, an old English unit of volume. ...

pub called the Flea and Firkin, described in the '' Rough Guide'' as a "predominantly student-filled beer-hall-style pub with brewery on site." The public house was renamed to the Footage and Firkin before the site was sold and became a Scream pub called the Footage. It was refurbished by owners Stonegate Pub Company at a cost of £360,000, and was relaunched on 13 September 2014 with a capacity of 620 people.

Architecture

The two-storey building is rectangular, and is on a corner site with a 3-bay

chamfer A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...

ed entrance corner with a pavilion on top. Its facade features green and cream faience and terracotta tiles, and it has 4 bays facing Gosvenor street and 6 bays facing Oxford road. The centre of the Oxford road facade is marked with a raised torch in white terracotta. It has a small attic and a slate roof. It originally had a canopy, which was later removed. Much of the original interior, including plasterwork, the balcony and the vaulted ceiling, is still present in the building. The inside balcony originally had multi-coloured inlaid panels. The building was listed by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building on 3 October 1974.

References

{{commonscat, Grosvenor Picture Palace Theatres completed in 1913 Former cinemas in Manchester History of Manchester Grade II listed pubs in Greater Manchester Pubs in Manchester Grade II listed buildings in Manchester 1913 establishments in England

History

Architecture

See also

References