Walker, Newcastle
Welbeck Cinema
Last Updated:
14 Mar 2025
Walker, Newcastle
This is a
Cinema
54.974715, -1.553470
Founded in
Current status is
Extant
Designer (if known):
James Newton Fatkin
Now a function suite
Compared to the present, it’s hard to believe a housing estate could sustain such a large cinema. It was incredibly common for a suburb to host two or even three picture houses before television became the norm in people’s homes.
One survivor is the Welbeck Cinema & Playhouse on Scrogg Road. This was the last silent cinema to be built in Newcastle, right before the Great Depression (ouch!). It was owned by William Crocket of Wallsend, a local fruit and cinema magnate who also owned the Albion Cinema at North Shields. It had a capacity of 1,000 people – 688 in the stalls and 312 in the circle – and was of the highest standard in those days. There were six dressing rooms under the stage to accommodate grand variety performances, with a stage 30 ft deep and a fly tower to allow all sorts of contraptions and setups to spring up for new scenes.
It's worthy of note this cinema was designed by James Newton Fatkin, a Scot who designed many of the movie theatres on Tyneside. This one, the Tatler and Classic on Northumberland Street, the Tyne Picture Theatre at Wallsend as well as the Coronational Hall at Annitsford.
Variety acts continued for the next decade but became a full-time cinema on the eve of WWII. From there it was again modernised with a more limited seating capacity, but two state-of-the-art projectors from Pathé and a new set of silver screen curtains.
Its life as a cinema ended in 1968 when folk were beginning to stay at their own homes for entertainment. It became a Noble Bingo Club, and it was at this point the handsome tiled façade was covered in metal cladding (reminds me of the one in Houghton!). It became known as the Essoldo Bingo & Social Club in later years. It seems the place was ripe for a robbery, though, with at least two separate standoffs in the early 90s. Sawn-off shotguns, sticks, and masks were involved – not sure what they were really expecting to find at an ageing bingo hall, mind.
Such activities continued until 2012 and it is now a function suite. I can’t say I’ve ever seen it open, though!
Listing Description (if available)
These Ordnance Survey maps were produced during and shortly after the Second World War, and provide a pretty complete picture of Walker after the planned developments were fully realised. In fact you'll notice all is pretty much the same - The Scrogg Inn (now the club) adjacent, the Lady Stephenson Library and the allotments all intact. The most marked change is probably the school on Middle Street which has long been cleared for further housing.
Now if we wind the clock back slightly to the 1900s, we get an insight into the area while it was still being built up. Walker was still semi-rural in the late 19th century acting as a breaker between Byker and Wallsend. In fact, Scrogg House - an old farm and gingang, was still in situ by this time laying evident the previous rural nature of this area. The population boom, in part thanks to the development of the Walker shipyards, resulted in great need for housing in this area. Housing encroached from the Byker side (technically the St Anthony's ward) and Walker expanded westwards meeting in the middle here.
By the mid 20th century what we know today as Walker was fully developed, solely split by the sliver of allotment land separating "Byker" and true Walker. The library stood alongside the cinema, schools, the Scrogg Inn and the Employment Exchange as a sort of mini town centre.
The Welbeck Cinema today, with metal cladding rather than its former glazed tile facade. Taken in March 2025.
Welbeck Cinema in 1967 - two years before repurposing. Unknown original source.
Shipbuilding parts making their way to the Tyne along Scrogg Road, with the cinema in the background in 1956. Unknown original source.