The
Unofficial WebsiteThe Cinema House
The Cinema House on Doncaster
Gate opened in March 1914 as a picture hall. The architecture of the building was to say the
least fanciful for Rotherham. It consisted of a tiled faience frontage surmounted by Moorish
domes - Granada it certainly was not! There was also a public tea room which was very popular
for many years. Sound arrived in 1931 and there were several other alterations and
modernisations over the years. The last of these was the change from a cinema to a bingo club
in 1964, the tiling disappeared under cladding that was much more 1960s. I had a shufti as I
went by the other day and this little bit of the Alhambra in Rotherham must have lost its domes
at the same time. The bingo hall has closed too so the only sound there now is that of the dust
motes falling.
November 2004 There are plans to demolish of the Cinema House and build in its stead low cost town centre housing. This has upset may people who see it as yet another nail in the coffin of the town's heritage. It is supposed to have been demolished - I must go up Doncaster Gate and have a look. June 2006 it is still there. March 2007 the Cinema House is still there but has been allowed to decay and decay so it looks a right old mess. The state of the building and the amount of rubbish piling up around it are beginning to attract public complaint.