Aerial view showing Lymm Cinema

Just a shame it was exactly 100 years ago when, bear in mind, the population was around half of today’s figure. The Drill Hall had been built in the 1890s on the site of what is now Rainbow Day Nursery on Church Road. It served as home to the Lymm 3rd Volunteer Cheshire Regiment. It was a focal point for local recruitment and training during the Boer War and, later, The Great War, (1914-18). After the end of the “war to end all wars”  it was considered both redundant and expensive to run.

One of the moving forces behind the building of the Drill Hall had been Colonel J.E.G. Groves, co-owner of the Groves & Whitnall Brewery in Salford. He lived at Deansgreen Hall, out along Crouchley Lane. It was the Colonel who was also the instigator of the conversion and he is recorded as the proprietor when the Picture House opened in 1922. By the 1930s it was Mrs Fox, previously of the Picturedrome, Macclesfield who was at the helm. She is credited with upgrading the cinema into an “ultra-modern” establishment with the all the latest lighting, projection and, by now, sound equipment. A Moorish themed café was another new feature - what we would give for a photo of that! - and with parking for 100 cars. the venue must have attracted an audience from miles around.  As well as a cinema, the auditorium could be converted for stage performances and it played host to many touring entertainers as well being home much later to the Bridgewater Players and other local groups. The cinema’s fate was sealed, like so many others by the rise of television in the early 60s and it closed in 1962. The building’s life came to a rather ignominious end as a chip factory before eventually being demolished.

The following article from “Bioscope” – a trade magazine of the time – offers a vivid description of the cinema at the time of its opening in 1922

“The Drill Hall at Lymm has been converted into a picture theatre. The interior is tastefully decorated in white and two shades of green, and on the lower part of the walls red tiles have been placed. The spacious entrance hall is panelled in stained rosewood, with small old-fashioned windows looking through into the auditorium. Well fitted cloakrooms for ladies and gentlemen are provided, leading off from the entrance hall. There is a handsome balcony from which patrons have an excellent view of the screen, and to which access is gained by means of two staircases.

The whole building is well lighted by a combination of the direct and indirect systems, and the front exterior is tastefully illuminated by numerous coloured lights. Special attention has been paid to the heating and ventilation of the building, and in every respect the comfort of patrons has been assured. Adequate access is provided.

Seating accommodation is provided for about 700. In the balcony are 180 seats, upholstered in plush of a rich blue shade with gilt ironwork. At the rear of the ground floor are 220 seats of similar design in red plush upholstery, placed on a slightly raised dais, while the patrons of the cheaper part at the front of the auditorium are provided with comfortable wooden armchairs for the seating of 300 persons. The proprietor of the Drill Hall is Colonel J.E.G. Groves.”

Text by Alan Williams