Subject: Grosvenor Cinema Location: Union Street, Oldham Date: c.1950
The Grosvenor on Union Street opened on August 7th 1920 and was an imposing builing featuring a 90 foot high tower. Generally considered to be Oldham’s first ‘talkie’ cinema, there were earlier examples of sound film showings in the town.
From November 1963 it became a bingo hall and was used as such until Mecca converted it to the Cat’s Whiskers night club in 1970, when it seems to have lost the tower. It closed in 1984 after a couple of name changes and was demolished in July 1985. The site is now occupied by Needham House, Oldham’s Job Centre.
The Oldham Corporation bus seems to have been heavily re-touched but the livery layout indicates that it is either one of the 1948 Leyland PD1/3s (267-291) or one of the Roe-bodied Daimler CVD6s (312-321).
