Cinemas — Headingley Leeds

Cinemas in Headingley

Centenary Leaflet, Cottage Road Cinema, Far Headingley Village Society, 2012

Cottage Road, 1911

The road was laid when Headingley Moor was enclosed in 1834, and named for the cottages to be built there.

Headingley Picture House, Cottage Road, c1949

Flyer, Headingley Picture House

The Cinema notes, “this is not in fact the Cottage Road, it's a generic stock image.”

Cottage Road Cinema, Cottage Road, c2017 © JHJ

Cottage Road Cinema, Cottage Road, c2019

Interior, Cottage Road Cinema

Elevation, Hyde Park Picture House, 29 April 1913 © WYAS

Hyde Park Picture House, no date

Elephant at Hyde Park Picture House, 1959

Borrowed from Billy Smart’s Circus to advertise the film “The Big Hunt”

Elephant at Hyde Park Picture House, 1959

Borrowed from Billy Smart’s Circus to advertise the film “The Big Hunt”

Salt Song performance, Hyde Park Picture House, September 2013

More info here

Hyde Park Picture House © RT 2020

Foyer, Hyde Park Picture House

Hyde Park Picture House © RT 2022

Picturesque Ablutions, Hyde Park Picture House © RT 2023

Hyde Park Picture House, 30 June 2023 © RT 2023

Elevation, The Lounge, 1915 © EB

The Lounge, 1920s

with forecourt, before North Lane was widened in 1931

The Lounge, c1935 © LLIS

The Lounge, from the Garden of Rest, 1963 © LLIS

The Lounge, c1985

The Lounge, 1999 © LLIS

Facade, The Lounge, 2012 © EB

For nearly a hundred years, Headingley enjoyed three cinemas. They all opened within four years, the Headingley Picture House in 1912 and the Hyde Park Picture House in 1914, followed by The Lounge in 1916 - they were among the first flush of cinemas opening throughout Leeds. All three coped with challenges over the years, the Great War, the arrival of the talkies, a second World War, the competition from television. Eventually, one was closed, but one continues to flourish, and one is even expanding. As befits Leeds’ number one suburb, Headingley now has the only suburban cinemas in the city. Read their histories here, prepared by Eveleigh Bradford. For current details, visit the Film page.
Photographs provided by Eveleigh Bradford (EB), Jerry Hardman Jones (JHJ), Leeds Library & Information Service (LLIS), West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS) and Richard Tyler (RT).