The End for Jesmond Picture House – a Tribute

I moved to the North east of England in July 1992, during the Barcelona Olympics. I was fortune enough to be put up in a for three weeks in The Ferncourt Hotel in Jesmond – looking back it wasn’t the greatest hotel  but as a 19 year old being relocated from rural Gloucestershire it was a bit of an adventure. I subsequently ended up renting a shared property in Jesmond and for several years this was my home. Of course, not wanting to sound old but this was long before the string of bars opened up on Osbourne road – the only real place to go for a drink was the Lonsdale – which at the time was an old fashioned pub with a bar for the locals (me or my friends did not fit in that category) and a lounge for the rest of us.

One of the few things you could do in Jesmond was go to the cinema and The Jesmond Picture House was still open and showing the latest films, albeit six weeks after they were shown at the Warner Bros cinema at Manors! But a small group of friends would regually frequent the Cinema on a Friday evening and then go for a couple of pints afterwards at the Lonsdale next door.

The cinema was one of the iconic landmarks in Jesmond, sitting right next to West Jesmond Metro. I was first familiar with it before I move to Newcastle when it appeared in an episode of Byker Grove – a story line that included spuggie if anyone can remember that far back. It always struck me as a proper link to a days gone by. The cinema towards the end of its working life was a classic flea pit. Some of my memories of it include -

• The woman you bought the ticket from also collected it from you before you entered the cinema
• Floors so sticky with spills that if you stopped moving it would take you a real effort to start walking again
• So dark inside that you could only just see where you were suppose to sit (which was probably a blessing)
• I once bought a cornetto that was three weeks past its best before date
• Dodgy sound
• Out of focus films
• Generally no more that half a dozen people watching a film on a given screening

On one of the last occasions I went with a couple of friends to watch ‘Last of the Mohicans’ – the first part of the film suffered from being slightly blurred, out of focus if you like. Half way through was an interval to purchase your out of date snacks from a lady who would stand at the bottom of the aisles (yes this was the same lady you bought your ticket from and who then collected the ticket from you). The film was then restarted for the second half. This time there was no sound, this went on for several minutes to the muttering and grumbles of most of the patrons – at this point one of my friends piped up – “Give her a chance, she has only just finished serving the ice creams”

Although it was a flea pit it was a great place, and has a lot of happy memories. Unfortunately it closed in 1993 and fell in to disrepair but it still came as a bit of a shock to me that such an iconic location was demolished last week. It is a shame that no other use could be found for it. Hopefully the building that replaces it will do the area justice.

So long Jesmond Picture House and thanks for the memories.

If you have any memories of Jesmond Picture House please just add them to the comments of this blog.