WOOLTON CINEMA

After months of uncertainty, the cinema has been saved!

The Woolton Picture House on Mason Street was first opened to the public on 26th December 1927. My father (born in 1924) told us how he used to go most Saturday afternoons to the matinee with his friends in the days before television was available.

During the Second World War many German bombs fell on Woolton and the surrounding area but, fortunately, none of them hit the Picture House.

In the 1950's and 1960's television became widely available, but people still flocked to "The Woolton" to see the latest films.

In the 1970's I became a regular patron of the Saturday Matinee, which started at 1.45 pm and cost 10p. On the occasions when we talked too loud, a torch would be shone upon us, and we would be ordered to move to seats near the entrance where the usherette could keep her eye on us!

When the main feature finished, there would be a short break while we queued down the sloping gangway to buy ice creams from an usherette who stood with a tray under a small spotlight. There would then be a short selection of "Tom & Jerry"-type cartoons.

At the end, the front fire exit door would be opened and we would surge out into the sunlight. (This fire exit, which was next to the Gents' toilet, has since been bricked up, but its location can be seen above the rear window of the red car in the photo above).

In the late 1970's the original seating was replaced, and the Cinema went on to survive the wave of multi-screen cinema complexes that spread over the country in the 1980's, and saw the demise of famous picture houses like the Abbey Cinerama, next to Wavertree Clock Tower.

During the 1980's I took more than one young lady to the Woolton Cinema, but didn't see much of the film! Those were the days!

Woolton Cinema closed down on 3rd

September 2006, following the death of owner,

David Wood.

In February 2007 it was announced that a

group of local businessmen had bought the

Cinema, and it re-opened on 26th March.

This is the NEW WEBSITE for the cinema,

operated by Chief Projectionist, DAVE PARR:

MUSIC!

BUSES