A Brief History of Cinema in Chester

by David A. Ellis and Steve Howe

Introduction | Music Hall | Gaumont Palace | Tatler/Classic | ABC Regal | Odeon | Majestic | Others | Advertisments

7. The Park, Saltney

Chester's only suburban cinema, the Park, in Coronation Street ('Cinema Hill') Saltney, opened for business on May 21st 1923.

The local vicar, the Rev J Philips and W. H Roberts, a former chairman of the East Saltney Council, performed the opening of the single-level hall, which was owned by Sydney Harold Booth and Wilfrid Francis Grierson.

ln September 1923 they formed The Park Cinema Saltney Ltd. Deeside Enterprise Cinemas owned the cinema after then until it closed in 1959.

The opening attraction at the 489-seat hall was the Sherlock Holmes thriller Moriarty. Proceeds from the first afternoon performance went to the now-demolished Chester Royal Infirmary.

In the silent days, a piano and violin accompanied the flickering images. With the building having a corrugated tin roof, one would imagine that some very loud- and unwelcome- sound effects must have been produced during a hail storm!

The proscenium width was 26ft. The main picture hall was l00ft long and 40ft wide. The box office telephone number was 21430.

Seats could be reserved. Before each performance, staff would hurry out and put signs on the booked seats.

In the early days there were wooden benches on the first few rows. The rest were covered in maroon plush velvet. Courting couples could cuddle in the double seats at the back.

The manager at the time of closing was the apty-named Mr A. B. Close. He had joined the cinema in 1933 as a projectionist. In 1938 he became the manager, taking over from a Mr Waring.
Other members of staff over the years were: Joe Bolton, doorman, Bob Dixon, projectionist and John Lightfoot, projectionist.
Our photograph shows (left to right) Joan Partington, Jessie Roberts, Johnny Owen, Joe Bolton, Bob Dixon, Nellie Willets and Alf Dixon.

The Park, as the rather murky photograph at the top of the page shows, was not a thing of architectural beauty but was nontheless still doing good business at the time of closure. John Lightfoot tells me that a director wanted to leave, so the Park had to be sold. John and the manager wanted to rent the hall but the offer was refused.

The old Park still stands today, converted to offices. If you go out of the building's back entrance (the old exit for the picture house), there is a small power substation with some very old but clear graffitti on there reading 'YANKS GO HOME'. This is apparently from WWII when there was bad feeling in the area about the Americans stealing the home-grown girls! Obviously, the Americans would take the girls to the cinema and be faced with this message when they left...

Do you have any photographs of the Park in its heyday? We'd very much appreciate a borrow of them to scan for inclusion here!


Back to Brook Street, Chester, to visit a former cinema that later became a ballroom and a bingo hall, the Majestic

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