Haymarket, Haymarket Cinema

Opened 21 December 1933. The owner was Dixon Scott. The cinema could seat 1280 people. There was box on either side of the stage, level with the circle. There were dressing rooms below the stage. George Bell of Dixon and Bell of Newcastle was the architect. Thomas Clements and Son was the builder. The Haymarket claimed to be the second cinema in Britain to be fitted with Western Electric 'wide-range' sound (the first was Leicester Square Theatre in London). There was a café above the entrance foyer which was leased to Hunters the Bakers. The façade of the cinema was cement render finished in white, and it used glass and chromium. The interior décor was by M. Alexander and Son and was apparently based on a cinema in Cairo - the foyer featured friezes of camels and palm trees. The Haymarket was advertised as 'Newcastle's Luxury Theatre'. In September 1935 the Associated British Cinemas Ltd (ABC) took over the Haymarket. In 1936 the cinema was extended to the rear. The same contractors were used. The new colour scheme was petunia, cream and gold. Seating was increased to 2006. The boxes were replaced by circle slips. The projection box was relocated at the rear of the circle. Carricks took over the café. The Lord Mayor re-opened the cinema on 31 August 1936. There was a fire in April 1942. It reopened on 7 December 1942. In the 1950s King's College (later Newcastle University) bought the site but leased it back to ABC. The last film was in September 1984. The Haymarket was demolished in January 1985 apart from the ground floor frontage. This was removed in 1987. The site is now a university car park.