So if you’re stuck for something to do, pop down to the cinemas namesake for some fun! More here.

Photo from around 1970 when people were playing bingo in cinemas!

During this time, the building has been a cinema, theatre, bingo hall, empty space, focal point and curiosity.

I wonder what words we’ll be using to describe this place in another 75 years time…

There’s still no official word from the building’s owners about the roller rink rumours or condition of the interior.  Users of the roller rink in Altrincham were apparently told it would be September but nothing seems to have happened yet. The building has waited 16 years, it could possibly wait a few more months…

Wonder if there will be golden tickets for admission and Oompa Loompas to greet us?

(Picture submitted to our facebook group by Lisa whose nephew Connor loves the building. Note-Connnor is 12, not 75).

Looking Good!

Looks like the re paint outside is complete. Wonder if the rumours about a roller rink opening in September will come to anything, not much sign of other activity or practicalities in place. On the plus side, the building is probably looking the best (outside) that it has since the day it closed!

There is  no offical evidence to back this up but who knows … good news if it’s true, now where did those roller skates go…

It screened its last film 46 years ago and some of those working at the Essoldo still remember that last week well. Nigel remembers this last week because he started work as a trainee projectionist on the Monday and the cinema closed the following Sunday! “It was the shortest job I ever had. During the last week the film showing was The Hill  however, on the last day we showed one of the Quatermass films.  My friend Jim, the chief projectionist was annoyed that it was the last film, he would have preferred a bigger film.” After work Nigel, then aged 16 and Jim would finish work with a drink at the Talbot Arms where he had his first pint!

Not much is known about what happened to Jim, but he is still referred to as something of a legend in the cinemas history! One person who remembers Jim well is Derrick. Derrick’s dad Robert was the Essoldos’ manager at the time it closed. His mum ran the cafe and along with his sister Linda and they all lived in a flat on the side of the building! Derrick recalls, “In my last year at school, around 1964, I used to rush home from school and up to the projection box and help (unpaid of course) the chief projectionist Jim put the evening shows on. I was never out of the place”. Jim stayed on at the Essoldo for a few years during the bingo days and Derick used to help out sometimes, “I remember, in my spare time, helping Jim install and wire up long banks of fluorescent fittings beneath the canopy following the cinema closure and prior to the bingo opening. I lodged with him and his then wife a couple of years later, around 1967/68, when my parents moved back down south.” Derick stayed in the cinema business and later on even came back to manage the Essoldo / Bingo building himself before buying and operating the Curzon Cinema in Urmston for many years.

Derricks sister Linda (are you still following the family tree!) also remembers that last week and the changes that followed. “I have happy memories of taking friends in to watch films, and going home for dinner from Gorse Park School to the cafe in the cinema that mum ran. It’s funny really, I don’t remember any fuss it was like it went from cinema to bingo just like that.  My dad Robert did not get on at all well with the man who came to oversee the change over at the Essoldo! I can remember seeing roulette tables in the big foyer and the changes to the stage, I think some of the seating was changed so there were tables, and as you went in where you used to buy your cinema tickets was all different and there were loads of slot machines”.

Stretfords Essoldo Cinema in the 1960s - You can just make out manager Robert Moss standing in the doorway!

After about a year of managing the building as a bingo hall, the Moss Family (minus Derrick!), moved to the south of England where Robert took up a post with another cinema. The buildings cinema days were truly over. Jim had moved on, Nigel joined the army and Derrick took up projectionist work in Manchester city centre.

But what has become very clear is that the memories are still very much there. This website is here to collect and share memories. The surnames of the people in this item have been removed, but if you knew them, worked at or visited the cinema towards the end, have a memory you’d like to share or can fill in any of the gaps, please leave your thoughts below by clicking on ‘leave a comment’.

The Essoldo in Stretford is guaranteed to split opinion. Critics say it should have been knocked down years ago, its distinctive shape making it stick out like a sore thumb. For others it’s a reminder of a bygone age.

The owner, who lives in Sale, prefers to remain anonymous as a long running debate continues over its future. There has been speculation it may become a roller rink and recently the exterior was smartened up, fuelling hope that progress could be made, 16 years after it closed as a bingo hall. All appears to have gone quiet since the minor facelift, suggesting another long wait before the next move.

The art deco design started off as the Longford Cinema in 1936, its architect clearly having a sense of humour. It was built in the shape of a cash register as a symbol of the money generated by Hollywood. It was a revolution in design with under-seat heating and neon tube lighting. For a week every month it was used a s a theatre and a young Julie Andrews appeared there during the Second World War. In 1950 it became the Essoldo after a change in ownership and remained as a cinema until 1965, after which it was turned into a bingo hall. It was eventually sold off in 1997.

My friends and family have often made derogatory comments about the Essoldo, but for some, the building still retains a certain fascination. Matthew White set up a website dedicated to it – www.longfordcinema.co.uk .He said: “I was surprised by how many people from all over the world who used to live in Stretford got in touch with me. It was an incredibly unusual building and it’s sad that it’s been empty for so long. The facade was crumbling and it became invisible to the people of Stretford. I wanted to get people talking about it again. If it becomes a roller rink then I’ll be happy because it’ll get people back in the place again”.