THE Looking Back pictures of the Bolton News have, once again, been taking readers on a trip down memory lane.
This time the everyday streets of Horwich collided with Hollywood as the town’s cinematic world is recalled.
Back in the middle of the 20th century the demands of movie-goers with a taste for the big screen stories saw multiple movie houses popping up all over the town.
Reader Angela Kelly, of St Helens, recalls a time when audiences had to choice of three different venues in the town.
Ms Kelly lived in Horwich until 1963 and remembers as a child visiting the Picture House, located in Chorley New Road at the junction of Winter Hey Lane and Mason Street.
She said: “On a Saturday all us kids used to queue for the Saturday morning session which was just kids stuff.
“I think it cost 6d. For the main programmes the dearest seats were 9d and the back rows were double seats where you sat with your boy/girl friend.
“I saw all Elvis’s films here and did a lot of screaming watching him. Happy Days.”
There was also The Palace in Church Street and the The Prince’s Theatre, located in the Arcade in Lee Lane, which dates back to the music hall period and artists would lodge at a house in nearby Captain Street.
The only cinema Ms Kelly remembers visiting in Bolton was the imposing Odeon, the building of which is now demolished.
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