The Hippodrome Theatre, 55 Main Street, Bingley, Yorkshire

Also see in this area - Yorkshire Theatres

Above - An Early Postcard showing Main Street and the Hippodrome Theatre, Bingley.

The Bingley Hippodrome Company was registered on July the 27th 1912 with a capital of £6,500 and the proposal to build a new Theatre on the Main Street at Bingley for the purposes of public entertainment including cinematography, opera, and theatrical performances. The Directors of the Company were M. P. Cryer and F. Briggs. The land for the Theatre was acquired in August 1912 and consisted of a former Elizabethan Smithy and Cottage which was a much loved building by the local population, photographs of the building were taken for historical reference before its demolition.

Right - A Programme for Coming Attractions at the Bingley Hippodrome in September 1935 - Kindly Donated by Julian Cook. The Full Programme is shown below.

The Theatre was designed by J. B. Bailey and Son of Keighley and had an auditorium consisting of Stalls, Private Boxes, and one Balcony with a total capacity 1,000 people. The Balcony had tip up chairs and was said to have been 'luxuriously carpeted'. Two lounges for patrons were situated off the main vestibule. Heating was supplied by low pressure radiators, and the Theatre was lit by electricity, generated on site. The Theatre's operating chamber, or projection box, was equipped with a Pathe Imperial projector.

Decoration of the auditorium was of crimson and white fibrous plaster and the Theatre's Stage was equipped by Beresford Pierce of London. The Theatre opened on Monday the 14th of June 1913 as a home for variety and early film presentations and was managed by G. B. Mosley of the Hippodrome, Bradford for its opening.

Above - A Programme for Coming Attractions at the Bingley Hippodrome in September 1935 - Kindly Donated by Julian Cook.

The Bingley Hippodrome was run by Herbert Upton from 1915 and he would be its Manager right into the 1950s, but by 1953 the writing was on the wall for this Theatre, a notice in the Bradford Observer of the 26th of September 1953 stated that a purchaser for the building, C. S. M. Beardell, acting on behalf of F. W. Woolworth, was in advanced stages to take over the building for conversion into one of Woolworth's stores, and by 1954 the deed was done. The Theatre closed in January 1954 and by July work on the conversion of the building was nearing completion.

The former Theatre remained a Woolworth Store for many years but even that closed eventually and its site was then used as a car park, which was still in use as such at the time of writing in January 2026, see image below.

Above - A Google StreetView Image showing the site of the former Bingley Hippodrome in October 2008 - Click to Interact.

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