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Can anyone remember the names of the old Burnley cinemas ? I think there where about a dozen

I can remember

Tivoli
Royal
Kings
Majestic
Temperance
Roxy
Grand
Palace
Empire
Alambra ...I'm not sure about this one

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Trish ...

Can't remember the Kings but do remember the others. The Alambrah was on Trafalgar Street, I remember being in there with my siblings when a news reel came on saying the King had died. Oh my goodness where did those years go?

Would that be “Alhambra”, like the palace at Granada?

I forgot the Odeon

The Kings was pretty rough it's nickname was "laugh and scratch" by the locals.

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Trish ...

Pentridge, somewhere off Trafalger St (not sure about that)

Rex

Oh, and the Savoy, Manchester Rd I think.

Rex

Yes, I think you are right Rex. It was on a left hand corner as you go up Manchester Rd and it had some tea rooms.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Yes that's right I remembered it but couldn't think of the name "The Savoy"

So that's 13 up to now.

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Trish ...

I used to go to the Arcadian's dance place which was under the Roxy until it burnt down.

Then we moved to the Taylor's which was up Manchester Rd.

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Trish ...

Hi, I've got 4 more for you.

Pentridge. Between Oxford Rd & Todmorden Rd.

The Empress. On Burnum Gate at the bottom of Coalclough Lane

The Imperial. at the End of Redrith Street Gannow Top.

The Colliseum. Rosegrove. Cliff.

The old Burnley cinemas I remember. 1950 (16) There may have been others.
Empire...................St James St.
The Victoria............St James St. (Live theatre)
Palace Hippodrome...St James St. (What is now Woolworth (Just closed)
Grand....................St James St. (Where McDonald's is now)
Odeon...................Yorkshire St./Gunsmith Lane...(Where Staples is now)
Savoy....................Manchester Rd./RedLion St...(Where Mark One is now)
Roxy......................Ormerod St. (Became Yorke House)
Temperance............Parker Lane. (Became the Ribble Club)
Pentridge................Holmes St. (Became the Circulation Club)
Majestic.................Brougham St.(Bottom end, Stoneyholme)
Alhambra................Trafalgar St. (Where the car wash place is now)
Empress.................Burnham Gate (near the Angel pub)
Tivoli.....................Colne Road (Near to where LiDL is now)
Kings.....................Hebrew Rd./Abel St.
Imperial.................Shale St. (Gannow Top)
Coliseum................Gannow Lane (Rose Grove)

We went to "T'iv" occasionally on a saturday afternoon. Cee cee's icecream across the road was THE best.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

The Tiv! You've answered the question before I asked it. Does anyone remember it being referred to as th'Flea Pit'?

I went with my friend when I was about 13 and we came away very dissapointed that we had not been bitten

The ice cream made up for that tho'

Of course, more recent history, but history all the same - Studio 123 in the Market Square.

Many of the cinemas listed above, whilst closed many years earlier did survive as buildings until around 25 years ago, particularly the Empress and Imperial. I would have sincerely hoped that given the proximity of the Empress to the Duckett Sanitaryware works, that the lavatories would have been appropriately appointed with the world famous Duckettware

There are some great images online featuring the Empire which despite its very desperate state remains a Grade II listed building and is on the English Heritage and Theatres Trust Buildings at Risk Register. This goes back to when it was the Empire Theatre Palace of Varieties Music Hall.

My family lived in Church St when I was born - 1944, though we later moved to Barbon St, Lanehead.I remember the Tivoli. Today I've been having a mini nostalgia trip and posted this on another website, which might jog some memories:

"We went to a small (independent?) in Burnley - the Tivoli I think on Colne Rd. There was a song that started with "We come along, on a Saturday morning, greeting everybody with a smile etc". Yes the Manager spoke in front of the curtains, and the films were all B&W - Flash Gordon, Bud Abbott and Lew Costello (the Invisible Man), a lot of American films, some in the 'bush' with mountains and passes (where everybody was 'headed-off'). In these there were goodies and baddies of course and a lot of American 'shooting brakes' - unusually big cars with the softest suspension I've ever seen, a lot of characters wore pith helmets for some reason, and the girl(s) wore riding breeches. Odd now you think about it. But the universal thing was that these were episodes in a series. There was always a cliff hanger at the end of each episode - something dreadful that the goody couldn't possibly escape from, like being just about squashed under a descending door. The next episode started with the door much higher and the goody easily escaped! How they got away with this misrepresentation I don't know. Oh and Flash Gordon had Emperor Ming and, of course, a beautiful lady who was constantly saved. Not only were the rockets made of sparklers, the smoke drifted UPWARDS!!. . . . . They don't make them like that anymore. Well I suppose the nearest is Indiana Jones."