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|short description=The '''Rothwell Empire Cinema''' was a cinema that opened on 8th May 1913. The cinema closed between 1933 and 1935.
|long description=By October 1935, the cinema had been converted into the Empire Ballroom and was given a new modern façade. It was replaced by Blackburn Hall in 1959, which is now a community theatre and centre with a flat floored auditorium and new stage constructed behind the former screen proscenium.
|image=Leodis-ID-2018425 176604.jpeg
|caption=
|attribution=By kind permission of Leeds Libraries, [https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/122720 Leodis.net].]]
|alt=A grainy black and white image of a street lined with buildings. On the street is a tram. A few people can be seen on the pavements.
|aka=Empire Ballroom
|building type=Cinema
|status=Closed
|link=Blackburn Hall
|years built=20th century
|open=1913-05-08
|closed=
|owner=Rothwell Empire Ltd, Rothwell Public Service Ltd
|location=53.7489, -1.47602
|street=Commercial Street
|town=Rothwell
|postcode=LS26 0AW
|map icon=20th Icon.svg}}
==History==
[[File:Leodis-ID-2018414 176580.jpeg|left|frame|'''On the left is the Rothwell Empire Cinema.'''<br/> By kind permission of Leeds Libraries, Leodis.net.]]▼
The Rothwell Empire Cinema opened on the 8th May 1913 with a capacity of over 650. The opening was attended by local dignitaries, including councillors and clergy. The first manager was J. Maurice Woffenden.<ref>(The Bioscope, 1913)</ref> The price of a ticket in 1913 was 2d., 4d. or 6d. for adults and half price for children, expect for 2d. seats.<ref>(Skyrack Courier, 1913)</ref> In 2017, those prices would equate to approximately £0.65, £1.30 and £1.95.<ref>(Currency converter: 1270–2017, no date)</ref>
▲[[File:Leodis-ID-2018414 176580.jpeg|left|
In July 1924, during a children's pageant, a piece of buring carbon fell from the limelight apparatus and set fire to a girl's dress. Her mother, Mrs. Hirst, said that she was unharmed.<ref>(Yorkshire Post, 1924)</ref>
In March 1931, the Rothwell Empire Cinema started showing 'talkies' (films with sound) using a Western Electric sound outfit, while also retaining its orchestra. There was a ceremony that was opened by Mrs Lunn J.P. to a packed house.<ref>(Yorkshire Evening Post, 1931)</ref>
On the 3rd May 1932, the manager of Rothwell Empire Cinema, Frederick William Taylor, was found dead in the cinema. The cinema had temporarily closed the prior Monday and Taylor was due to meet staff members at the Empire to settle various matters, however they found the Empire locked. Taylor did not return home and the cinema operator alerted the police. The police forced their way into the Empire and found Taylor lying next to a tube with a gas tap turned on.<ref>(Yorkshire Evening Post, 1932)</ref> An inquest ruled his death a suicide, caused by a fit of depression. It was noted that he had been worried about the cinema being closed the prior week.<ref>(Kinematograph Weekly, 1932)</ref>
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The cinema closed sometime between 1933 and 1935 as it is listed in the ''Kinematograph Year Book'' for 1933<ref>(1933 Kinematograph Year Book, 1933, p.495)</ref> but is listed as closed in the 1935 year book.<ref>(1935 Kinematograph Year Book, 1935, p.546)</ref>
===Empire Ballroom===
The Rothwell Empire Cinema was known as the Empire Ballroom by 29th October 1935, when the Yorkshire Post reported that [
===Blackburn Hall===
''See main article: [[Blackburn Hall]]''
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*''Kinematograph Weekly'' (1932) ‘Rothwell Manager’s Suicide’, 12 May, no. 1308, vol. 183, p. 20.
*''Skyrack Courier'' (1913) ‘The Empire, Tram Terminus, Rothwell’, 20 June, p. 4.
*''Yorkshire Evening Post'' (1931) ‘Leeds Cinema Gossip’, 21 March, p. 5.
*''Yorkshire Evening Post'' (1932) ‘Manager Dead in Cinema’, 3 May, p. 9.
*''Yorkshire Post'' (1924) ‘The Fire Incident at the Rothwell Empire’, 18 July, p. 3.
*''Yorkshire Post'' (1935) ‘Viscount Halifax at Rothwell’, 29 October, p. 12.
==See Also==
{{Place nav}}
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