The Gaumont Cinema, Oxford Street

Containing a huge auditorium and Hammond Organ which rose out of the floor, the Gaumont on Oxford Street was a 2000 capacity cinema that was open between October 1935 and January 1974. Cited by many as an absolute gem of a cinema, it included a double height entrance foyer lined with mirrors and a grand staircase leading to the circle. The basement contained a buffet restaurant for patrons of the cinema and the general public as well as a 60-foot-long licensed bar. On the frontage 12 rows of 18-inch letters in red neon announced the coming attractions

In the late 70s the cinema became a nightclub, firstly named Romanoffs which then quickly changed its name to Rotters. As a club venue, the place remained open until it was demolished in the 1990s. What now stands in place of arguably the finest cinema in Manchester is an NCP car park.

Walter Browning speaks of a typical night at the Gaumont with his family during the 1930s. As a local film renter and distributor, he was greeted and escorted to his seat each time making for a grand occasion. He usually saw lots of other patrons at the same time each week as it was common to reserve the same seat at the same time. He fondly remembers other family traditions associated with going to the cinema.

Image: Gaumont Cinema, Oxford Street (west side, corner with Great Bridgewater Street), Manchester, 1965 Ref: m09219