Report - The Moreton Picture House - Wirral - July 2012

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I lucked out on this one a little bit but then again it goes to show the advantages of having a real interest in the places your exploring rather than just an interest in taking photos in them.

Ive been after a row of cinema seats for the house for a while and the other day a decent row appeared on ebay for an unusually decent price. I phoned the guy up and couldn't believe my luck when he said ' "make sure you bring a torch, they are still in the cinema and the lights dont work"

We had a few other engagements in the area so myself and Dweeb hopped in the car and ventured northward for the day. Up on arriving we were shown inside and had a chat with the owner. He intends to keep the building divided into two floors and it looks probable the ground floor will become a theatre with the upper floor being used as a dance school.. He seemed very keen to at least preserve the buildings original features even if it was not viable to turn it back into a theatre outright! After we had unbolted the seats (with a tear in eye) and handed a crisp wad of £20s over (also with a tear in eye) he was kind enough to let us have free reign of the building and take as many shots as we liked.. Now that doesn't happen very often!!

The cinema officially opened on 30th April 1921 with Mr. W.W. Wright as manager and the first film to be shown in the 850 seat cinema was 'Wit Wins'. The cost of seats ranged from 9d in the front stalls, 1/- for reserved stalls, and 1/7 in the balcony. There were two performances each evening at 6.40 and 8.40 with matinees at 2.45 pm.

Designed by the well-known theatre architect, A.E. Shennan, the Moreton Picture House was situated on 16 Station Road (later renamed Pasture Road), Moreton, for Cheshire Picture Halls. The theatre was cheaply built and adopted a Tudor style with half timbered frontage with a canopy supported by two piers between which were two shops. Inside the seats were upholstered in rich crimson and blue velvet. Access to the balcony was from the entrance hall via two marble staircases balustraded with hard-wrought iron work.

Moreton at this time was largely unbuilt so the appeal of the cinema was targeted mainly to those from the surrounding area who enjoyed a cycle trip and would enjoy a break by watching a film. In fact the cinema offered free storage of bicycles.

By 1937 Cheshire Picture Halls had become part of the S.M. Super Cinemas circuit until this company was taken over by Essoldo chain in 1954.

On 28th March 1964 Moreton Picture House closed with a showing of 'Flight of the White Stallion' starring Robert Taylor (1911-1969) and Lilli Palmer (1914-1986). Today the building is still in use as a bingo hall.