"Ellesmere" Cinema Café and Car Park East Lancashire Rd/ Heniker St. Swinton

SWINTON - Messrs Foden Hemm and Williams L/ARIBA 199 Deansgate, Manchester are preparing plans for the erection of a cinema and café on the East Lancashire Road. Accommodation for 1,250 persons. The scheme is at an early stage. [Builder 5 April 1935 Page 665]

ELLESMERE CINEMA - The opening of the new Ellesmere Kinema, Worsley near Manchester has been put back a week to September 28. The theatre with which A Snape of Manchester is associated, has been planned by Messrs Foden Hemm and Williams, architects of Manchester, and will have seating for 1,220 persons, all on one floor. There will be a large café and restaurant. W H Ellwood is manager of the new theatre. [Kinematograph Weekly. 17 September 1936. Page 5]

NEW OUTER MANCHESTER HALL OPENED. FEATURES OF £18,000 ELLESMERE - Stated to have cost in the neighbourhood of £18,000, the new Ellesmere Cinema on the East Lancashire Road between Swinton and Worsley, near Manchester, opened to the public on Monday September 28. The directors are Messrs Alfred Snape, Robert Taylor, Harold Ward, J H Fenton, John Howard and A Marsh. Occupying a commanding site on the main Manchester - Liverpool road, the Ellesmere elevation is in sand faced brick, relieved with terra cotta dressings. Terra cotta pillars have been introduced to support the side verandah with good effect. The domed roof over the corner main entrance is illuminated at night with neon decorative lighting.  One of the features of the foyer and waiting lounge is the treatment to create the illusion of a continuous vista. This has been achieved by covering one of the walls of the foyer with a huge mirror. All the 1,220 seats are on the one floor, the auditorium being of the stadium type. As to the position of the higher-priced seats, these are across the centre of the theatre. The decorative scheme is carried out in shades of brown, green and peach, relieved with touches of gold. The ceiling is finished in sky effect. The main stage curtain is of satin appliqued to portray a garden scene, with a central feature of a fountain. This fountain motif has been continued to the stage front - the part which usually forms part of the orchestra well - where the fibrous plaster treatment takes the form of a waterfall design. The stage is 22 feet deep by 56 feet wide with a proscenium opening 40 feet wide. Dressing rooms are also provided. Western Electric wide range sound equipment and Ross projectors are installed. At one corner of the building there is a two storey café and restaurant, which can be entered either from the kinema or from the main road. The café has accommodation for 100 persons. Messrs Foden, Hemm and Williams of Manchester were the architects.

Reference    Builder 5 April 1935 Page 665
Reference    Builder 20 December 1935 Page 1125
Reference    Builder 27 December 1935 Page 1166*
Reference    Builder 3 April 1936 Page 703
Reference    Kinematograph Weekly. 17 September 1936. Page 5
Reference    Kinematograph Weekly. 1 October 1936. Page 46