Feature - The Hyde Park Picture House.

Secrets of a true Leeds treasure revealed.
PeterW
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Joined: Mon 08 Apr, 2013 6:43 pm

Post by PeterW »

Thank you for the memories of the Hyde Park Picture House.On the matter of Bingo - in the early 1960's many cinemas were "converted" to Bingo Halls. The Majestic in Leeds City Centre was one - and the Hyde Park Cinema another. This "conversion" was not to everyone's taste, and I recall being persuaded to join a small group to demonstrate that you could play there without being formally made a member of the Bingo Club - which was against the law. That initial effort was successful for the new Bingo Hall had to close down for a short time until it improved its membership practices.Around 1953 I remember going to the "first house" at the Hyde Park to see the horror film "The Fall of the House of Usher". This finished about 8.00 p.m. Then I ran as fast as I could to the Lyceum Cinema to see the "second house" performance of "War of the Worlds" starting at 8.15 p.m. Ticket price at each cinema was one shilling (about 10 pence). The memory of that double dose of "horror", at the age of 15 has not totally faded!

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tilly
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Joined: Mon 11 Jan, 2010 2:32 pm

Post by tilly »

PeterW wrote: Thank you for the memories of the Hyde Park Picture House.On the matter of Bingo - in the early 1960's many cinemas were "converted" to Bingo Halls. The Majestic in Leeds City Centre was one - and the Hyde Park Cinema another. This "conversion" was not to everyone's taste, and I recall being persuaded to join a small group to demonstrate that you could play there without being formally made a member of the Bingo Club - which was against the law. That initial effort was successful for the new Bingo Hall had to close down for a short time until it improved its membership practices.Around 1953 I remember going to the "first house" at the Hyde Park to see the horror film "The Fall of the House of Usher". This finished about 8.00 p.m. Then I ran as fast as I could to the Lyceum Cinema to see the "second house" performance of "War of the Worlds" starting at 8.15 p.m. Ticket price at each cinema was one shilling (about 10 pence). The memory of that double dose of "horror", at the age of 15 has not totally faded! Hi Peter W Welcome to S/L thanks for your input you will have plenty to read about Leeds in the past on this site.I look forward to reading more of your memories of Leeds in the past.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

jonleeds
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Joined: Thu 31 Jan, 2008 4:59 pm

Post by jonleeds »

I can recall back in the mid 1990s when I was living around the Hyde Park area my friend Dan was employed as the projectionist at the Hyde Park Picture House so my chums and I had the privilege of free film viewings and we were able to hang around in the projection room. Sadly he got sacked over some rumours of having his hands in the till which I dont think was true. A few years later when there were some renovations taking place at the cinema I rescued from a skip outside several large boxes of 35mm film reels. There must have been over 100 reels in total, all were labelled with their contents and they contained the trailers that would be shown before the main feature, they dated back to the late 70s onwards. I flogged most of them on the car boot sale as Ebay wasnt really going back then. Also on the skip were several rows of the original seating from the picture house which unfortunately I wasnt able to move as they were made from cast iron which had ornamental mouldings decorating the sides and complete with the upholstery. I imagine I could have sold these for hundreds of pounds to someone who was creating their own home cinema room. I think the last film I saw there was 'Withnail and I' which was a special screening to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the film, so I guess that would have been around 1996.    
Have your fun when you're alive - you won't get nothing when you die... have a good time all the time! - Chumbawumba!

And no matter how things end, you should always keep in touch with your friends - Dave Gedge

Bugblatter
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Joined: Mon 12 Nov, 2012 5:09 pm

Re: Feature - The Hyde Park Picture House.

Post by Bugblatter »

I’m pretty sure that The Hyde Park Picture House never succumbed to the bingo hall phenomenon. Possibly the Lyceum nearby. HPPH was sustained for a while by smutty movies and then more conventional stuff supported by the many students living close by. HPPH is currently undergoing a major refurbishment, which I have some reservations about to be honest.
Leeds born and bred

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