Lyme House Cinema, Prescot

An early work by William Ellis, The Lyme House Cinema was opened in December 1922 and was built by Mr L Hughes who also built the town’s first cinema, the Prescot Picture Palace and Theatre of Varieties, on Kemble Street. It had a 22 feet wide proscenium and 980 seats. Around 1929 it was equipped with a Western Electric (WE) sound system. The cinema was set back from the buildings either side of it to give a wide pavement for people to wait or queue outside the cinema at a time when Eccleston Street was still open to vehicular traffic. This was partially covered by an ornate glass canopy, replaced with a simplified canopy by 1951.

The Lyme House Cinema closed in 1957 and was converted into a Lennon’s supermarket, and in 2016 was a clothing store.