Leeds' Hyde Park Picture House reopens to public after revamp

The Hyde Park Picture House, closed since early 2020, reopened its doors on Friday night

Film fans in Leeds have hailed the return of a "one-of-a-kind" independent cinema after a restoration project.

Hyde Park Picture House opened 108 years ago and is believed to be the world's last remaining gas-lit cinema.

Its red curtain has been closed for three years due to the work - which included the installation of a second screen - and the Covid-19 pandemic.

But more than 400 people filled its seats once again for screenings of Wes Anderson's Asteroid City on Friday.

The cinema opened in November 1914, just after the outbreak of World War One, when it broadcast news bulletins and morale-boosting dramas.

Plans were made in 2014 - the cinema's centenary year - to protect the building for a further 100 years

Its nine gas lights, which were originally in place to ensure cinema-goers did not behave inappropriately in the stalls, were renovated during the project and are lit each day.

Ollie Jenkins, marketing and communications manager, said it had been "lovely to see how excited audiences are to get back in".

"Over the years there was a papering over the cracks approach, the cinema got away with it for a while as it's dark in the auditorium and audiences didn't know how bad it was getting," he said.

"The building needed fundamental intervention to stop it getting catastrophically bad."

The Grade-II listed building on Brudenell Road in the Hyde Park area of Leeds has been closed for three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and renovation work

The new 50-seat basement screen is due to open in July, with other improvements including accessible facilities and the restoration of the original terrazzo flooring.

Other upgrade work in the cinema, on Brudenell Road in the Hyde Park area of the city, includes the installation of a cafe bar and a community room.

The work, which developers began working on in 2014, was funded with a £2.3m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant along with support from Leeds City Council and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Film fans have helped pay for the renovation by sponsoring seats, with one plaque reading: Chip & Check's first date 18/11/05

About £100,000 was raised through community fundraising, including supporters paying for a plaque to be installed on seats carrying a personal message.

Mr Jenkins said: "There's messages dedicated to family members, or just film quotes or jokes - 'sssh, be quiet' or 'move your head out the way'.

"It's just a reminder of how important this place is to so many people."

He added: "We've had a lot of people who met for the first time here and are now married, we've had a few weddings held here as it was the first date venue."

What do returning film fans think?

Ingrid Sharp, 63, of West Park in Leeds, used to live 100 yards away from the picture house and has been coming to the cinema since 1989.

"I've seen some amazing films here, it means a lot to me and I'm so glad it's open again," she said.

"It has a programme you don't get anywhere else, if you want to see a little indie film this is such a nice environment to see it in."

She added: "On average I think I've seen about 10 films a year here so that's a lot of films!"

Meredith Stuart, 29, who lives in Headingley, said: "Ever since it closed and they said they were going to refurbish it I've just been waiting for it to reopen, it's such a nice place and really historical.

"I work in the animation industry so I love animation films in particular. It means a lot to the locals to have it open again."

Alex Whitbread, Meredith Stuart and Ingrid Sharp were among the first people to visit the reopened cinema on Friday night

Alex Whitbread, 55, who lives in London and grew up a short distance away from the picture house, said: "I've known this cinema since I was a child, I've very fond memories of coming here.

"It's very atmospheric with the gas lamps inside and it's embedded in the community - it's charming that it's still here as so many places have died away."

He added: "I took my late mum to see one of the more recent Star Wars films here, I think that was the last time she came to the cinema so I've fond memories of that."

Wendy Cook, head of cinema, said she was looking forward to having the flexibility of two screens rather than the previous single auditorium.

"When we closed we had 1,000 performances a year, or 330 unique films, but we didn't have the chance for films to have a longer run," she said.

"There's smaller, beautiful titles that don't have big budgets or marketing and they need cinemas like us to show them and for word of mouth to build."

Staff at the Hyde Park Picture House say they're "excited" and "emotional" about the reopening

Events over the coming days include free family screenings of Paddington and a northern premiere of Dutch documentary Shabu.

The renovations dug up many unexpected finds under the floorboards, including film boxes and sweet wrappers dating back to the 1930s.

"They inadvertently created a time capsule for us, it was mostly full of cigarette packs which shows how closely smoking and cinema were once associated," Mr Jenkins said.

Finds during the renovation project include a pack of "Wild Woodbine" cigarettes likely to date from the 1930s or 40s, a Kodak film box from the 1930s and a pre-World War Two slip from a box of chocolates

The cinema, pictured here in 1959, opened shortly after the outbreak of World War One

The items discovered during the work are now on display in the Grade-II listed building, with fragments of decades-old film posters also preserved.

"I'm excited about the sense of permanence, as the decade up to closure felt precarious all of the time and it made it difficult to plan," Ms Cook said.

"We can now start to plan for ten years down the line, which feels incredibly precious."

Mr Jenkins concluded: "It's a combination of the heritage we have and our programme which makes the picture house one of a kind."