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Empire, Thorne Moorends
Cinema Address:
Marshlands Road, Thorne Moorends, DN8 4SB
Period of Thompson Ownership:
1937-1958
How Acquired by Thompson:
Bought
Architect/Design:
Designed by W A Kellett in 1931. 30 feet wide proscenium
Other Info:
The Cinema is in the Moorends district of the small town of Thorne, to the north-east of Doncaster. The Empire Cinema possibly opened in the 1920’s or earlier, and may originally have been named Empire Palace Theatre but certainly a new cinema was built in 1931.
Fate of the Cinema:
Gutted by a fire on 27th February 1952. It was still closed in 1953 and possibly never reopened, but repairs were carried out and it became a church hall. More recently it was demolished and replaced by the Hedgerow Children's Centre.
Site Links:

Cinema Treasures

Location Accuracy: Accurate

Information below is taken from The Kinematograph Yearbooks. The Page reference is from the following year’s edition, when information appeared. Additional information is in italics

Year Ownership Population Seating Capacity Other cinemas in town Manager Shows per day Changes Weekly Prices Variety/ Screen Sound System Other cinemas with sound Kinematograph Year Book reference
1937 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 5d - 1s Proscenium width 30ft WE All 662
1938 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 5d - 1s Proscenium width 30ft WE All 647
1939 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 5d - 1s Proscenium width 30ft WE All 583
1940 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 6d - 1s2d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 551
1941 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 6d - 1s2d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 549
1942 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 7d - 1s6d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 522
1943 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1045 1 Continuous 7d - 1s6d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 529
1944 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1022 1 Continuous 7d - 1s9d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 488
1945 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Continuous 7d - 1s9d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 535
1946 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Continuous 7d - 1s9d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 372
1947 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Continuous 7d - 1s9d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 385
1948 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Continuous 10d - 1s 9d WE All 399
1949 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Continuous 1s - 1s 9d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 404
1950 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Continuous 1s - 1s 10d Proscenium width 30ft WE All 394
1951 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Closed WE All 377
1952 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Closed WE 376
1953 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Closed WE 373
1952 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 Closed WE 354
1955 Moorends Empire Ltd. 5300 1 CinemaScope WE 347
1956 Moorends Empire Ltd. 14462 1 CinemaScope WE 346
1957 possibly closed
1958-59 closed