The Empire Theatre, 93 Lord Street, Fleetwood

Located on West Street (later renamed Lord Street) in Fleetwood, The Empire Theatre & Hippodrome was opened in mid-August 1909. It was designed by architect Albert Winstanley, and boasted to be ‘the first theatre to have a white marble facade’. From around 1913, it was listed as operating as a cinema. In early-1915, it was closed for reconstruction, when the seating capacity in the gallery was enlarged, and the total seating capacity increased to 900. It re-opened in June 1915 as the Art Pictures. With a cafe and tea rooms on the first floor and high quality furnishings and seating,  it soon became the most popular cinema in the town.

In 1923, the building was demolished to build a new Art Pictures, again designed by Albert Winstanley. The new cinema now had a single circle seating 340, with seating in the stalls for 668 and two boxes on each side of the 30 feet wide proscenium. There was also a cafe for the convenience of patrons. By 1937, it was being operated by the Blackpool Tower Co. Ltd. and was re-named the Art Cinema in 1944. It closed in 1959 and was demolished in 1961.