The Bradford Hippodrome, 65 Barkerend Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Later - The Roxy Cinema / Silver Dollar Bingo / EMI Bingo & Social Club / Barkerend Road Mosque

Bradford Index

Above - A Google StreetView Image showing Barkerend Road and the former Bradford Hippodrome in April 2025 - Click to Interact.

The Bradford Hippodrome Company was first registered in August 1909 by J. Holmes, W. F. Howard and A. Barter with the intention of constructing a large building on Barkerend Road in Bradford for the purpose of housing a roller skating rink and circus arena with a capital of £5,000 in £1 shares. By December 1909 this massive barn of a building had been constructed and opened for skating and was initially quite popular.

Right - A Notice about the Bradford Hippodrome Skating Rink - From the Bradford Daily Argus, 18th of December 1909.

Having opened in 1909 before long the building was also being used for Hockey Matches, but by February 1911 it had been converted for use as a live Theatre for variety productions and early Film screenings. The Hippodrome now had seating on one level for 1,700 people, a fully equipped stage, and dressing rooms for artists, and was run by the MacNaghten Vaudeville Circuit whose Palace Theatre Manager, George Bernard Mozley, then came over to run this Theatre instead. This new incarnation of the Bradford Hippodrome was quickly successful and the following year the Company opened another Theatre in nearby Bingley called the Bingley Hippodrome.

Taken over by Joe Holmes in 1921 the Theatre ceased live shows and became a full time Cinema, still Managed by G. Mozley who would remain at the Hippodrome until 1945.

The Bradford Hippodrome was eventually taken over by Arthur R. Wood who refurbished and redecorated the Cinema and reseated it with a smaller capacity of 1,373. At the same time the proscenium was rebuilt with decorative grills on either side and a large curtain fitted to hide the screen when it was not being used. It reopened as the Roxy Cinema on the 28th of August 1950.

Bought by the Star Cinemas Circuit in 1952 it reopened on the 24th of March that year, still with the Roxy name. By the 1960s however, the Cinema had gone over to Bingo for most of the week with Film showings on just 3 days a week.

Bingo soon became so popular that cinema was abandoned completely and the Roxy went over to full time Bingo in November 1961 as Silver Dollar Bingo. Later taken over by EMI it became the EMI Bingo & Social Club for the next decade.

Left - A Google StreetView Image showing Barkerend Road and the former Bradford Hippodrome in July 2024 - Click to Interact.

In the 1970s, having been closed for a number of years, the building was eventually converted into a mosque in 1982 and so it remains today.

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