Odeon / Rialto Luxury Cinema and Café Penny Street Blackburn

Opened 7th or 23rd December 1931.1,879 seats. Café. Holophane lighting throughout.  Closed 23rd March 1974. Demolished 1974 for offices/car park.

WE)  Opened 7th or 23rd December 1931.. Props: Assoc. British Properties. Chairman David Rosenfield; man. dir. Wm. Madigan.  1,879 seats. Organ: Compton 3/7 on lift. Café. Holophane lighting throughout. By 1941: Prop., North British Entertainments, Ltd., Newgate Chambers, Rochdale, Lancs. Phone Rochdale 3212. 1,878 seats. Continuous, Mon. to Fri. Three shows Sat, Daily Mat. Phone Blackburn 4246. Station, Blackburn, LMS. Rank bought in 1957. Re-named Odeon. Closed 23rd March 1974. Demolished 1974 for offices/car park.

THE RIALTO, BLACKBURN - The new Rialto kinema, in course of erection at a cost of £60,000 will have a crush-hall 70 feet long by 32 feet wide. This will be floored with terrazzo, and the walls will be panelled to a height of 5 feet in mahogany. The windows will be fitted with leaded glass and the ceiling finished in fibrous plaster. Two main staircases, each 6 feet wide, rise from either end to the balcony floor. Out of this hall two sets of doors give access to the auditorium, which accommodates 721 in the stalls and 556 in the pit. The walls round the auditorium will be panelled in mahogany for a height of 6 feet. The proscenium opening will be 42 feet wide and 28 feet high. with fibrous plaster surround, and the ceiling will be circular with ribs panelled in fibrous plaster. The stage will be 28 feet deep, with dressing-rooms arranged on each side, and heating, fan and vacuum chambers will be arranged on the basement under the stage. On the first floor a crush-hall or lounge has been arranged 50 feet by 44 feet, for the supply of light refreshments. The balcony will hold tip-up chairs on wide and comfortable steppings. The second floor is occupied by the projector, synchronising, rewinding, and electrical rooms. S. Butterworth and Duncan. of 2, Baillie Street. Rochdale, are the architect' for the Rialto. which is being built for Proprietary Theatres. Ltd. [Kinematograph Weekly 2 April 1931 page 65]

Reference    Builder 6 February 1931 Page 299
Reference    Builder 27 March 1931 Page 595
Reference    Kinematograph Weekly 2 April 1931 page 65
Reference    Gould Gazetteer