THE proposal to convert the former Amrik white goods store at the junction of North Parade and Manningham Lane into a 40-seat micro cinema with a bar prompted former Bradford councillor Tony Emmott, an occasional Remember When contributor, to recall another cinema that used to be in the vicinity.

When it was opened in 1914 The Regent was indeed a cinema fit for a king, as most big cinemas were. They were picture palaces with uniformed ushers and usherettes, the closest that most ordinary working people were likely to get to Buckingham Palace.

The front of the building was faced in white terracota in the classic French style. An octagonal tower and dome topped the building. Inside there was seating for 1,377 people. A 30-foot wide stage and two dressing-rooms and a cafe were included. In the mid-1920s, after renovation, the Regent Theatre, as it became known, re-opened as the New Regent. A sound system was added in 1929. Sol Sheckman’s Essoldo Circuit Central Ltd took over in 1950. Four years later CinemasScope was added.

Essoldos appeared all over the place. Ilkley had one in Railway Road from 1949 to 1969. In the mid-1950s Keighley had two: one in Oakworth Road, the other in Skipton Road, which later became The Picture House and is still under the proprietorship of the ebullient Charles Morris.

“As a pupil at Belle Vue Grammar School on Manningham Lane I walked past the Essoldo twice a day. In fact I saw my first ‘X’ certificate film there - illegally - at the age of 16 in 1958 entitled The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Mr Emmott said. This psychological sci-fi thriller was a black and white ‘b’ picture support to the main feature. Directed by Don Siegel, who later made Dirty Harry and John Wayne’s last film The Shootist, it was a scary drama set in a small town in Los Angeles where people start behaving oddly. There were no special effects and no deaths.

Thought to be a parable about the dangers of Communism, the dangers of McCartheyism or the dangers of a post atomic world, it would have been just the sort of film to attract Belle Vue boys up for a bit of adventure.

In October 1965 the Essoldo closed its doors as a cinema and re-opened as a bingo hall – the fate of many beloved cinemas in the late 1960s as television took over. Ten years later, in February 1975, the once-noble pile was gutted by fire.

The charred ruins remained an eyesore for many years until the development of Hamm Strasse. The site of the Regent/Essoldo now lies beneath the road; gone but not forgotten by Tony Emmott at least.