Longford Cinema
Longford Cinema, originally the Longford Theatre, was a cinema in Stretford, Trafford. While the cinema has been closed for decades, the building still exists (abandoned) and remains an iconic part of Stretford town centre.
History
The Longford Theatre opened on 12th October 1936. An opening ceremony was held at 8pm and was attended by the Mayor of Stretford, Albert Smith. The first screening was Tudor Rose, which was shown all week.[1]
A 1996 anecdote from a local resident says that a man disrupted the first screening of Tudor Rose by standing up and shouting It was nothing like that. I was there!
. No doubt this would have been amusing to the audience, as the movie was based around events in the early 16th century.[2]
In February 1972, the Essoldo Stretford installed an electric generator so it could continue operating despite any local power cuts.[3] This would have been in response to the 1972 miners' strike which started in January 1972, and was the beginning of a major energy crisis for the UK.