Buildings of Interest

Description

Architect: J J Bradshaw of Bolton

 Built in 1879 during a period when, apart from 1865, Conservatives represented Leigh from 1859 to 1885. The style is somewhat eclectic (mixed); the ground and first floor windows with their cast-iron mullion shafts and entrance door shafts being Gothic Revival,the entrance arches Norman and the top storey, which is a later extension or remodelling, is Jacobean Renaissance. The top storey has distinctive stone and brick banding, mullion and transom windows with stone carved cartouches above and brick aprons below and triangular corbelled ribs terminated with ball finials at the gables. The right entrance door led to the assembly rooms known locally as Sems.

After presenting music hall entertainment, and occasional films, in 1908 it became Leigh’s first regular picture house and continued as a cinema to 1963