Longford Essoldo on BBC Radio Manchester

A sleeping beauty which hopefully will find a new life as a centre for entertainment. I was one of a group who celebrated the building ‘s history on its 50th birthday in 1986. We stopped the bingo for the afternoon and ran 35 mm films, having installed a traditional film projector. We managed to track the then elderly architect to Canada, and we recorded on the telephone a conversation of the opening night. I think from memory Henry Elder was only 27 when he designed the Longford cinema. Elder designed three other cinemas in the Manchester area, the Rota Denton (demolished) and shaped like a film can, the County Reddish (demolished) and the Ceylon Newton Heath with had a floating screen (very novel for the time) which when I last visited Manchester seven years ago was still extant.

The Longford was the best and most dramatic building, the Halle used it as a concert Hall during the war. It had a wonderful cafe over looking Chester Road and a huge stage and car park, but no organ although space for one was provided. I believe the floor in the stalls has been flattened as part of an idea to use the venue for dancing or skating. Lets hope someone out there can work with the owners to create a fantastic use for the venue, a Cinema Museum springs to mind.