Throckley
Lyric Cinema, Throckley
Last Updated:
23 Oct 2025
Throckley
This is a
Cinema, Bingo Hall
54.995109, -1.754102
Founded in
Current status is
Redeveloped
Designer (if known):
Percy Lindsay Browne
A convenience store and car park lies in its place.
This was once home to Throckley's own Lyric Cinema - a bit of a contrast to these days with a shop notorious for breaching hygiene standards...😵💫
The Lyric was a beauty of a picture house as you can see below, and it's not a surprise it was designed by Percy L Browne. He's responsible for many art deco pieces in the region like Wallsend's The Ritz, The Globe at Stockton, The Wallaw at Blyth among others. It was opened in May 1935 by E J Hinge, who might as well have been the Warner Bros of the North East. His list of cinemas are impressive and endless (as you'll see here: https://cinematreasures.org/chains/1291/previous?status=closed).
There was a huge demand for these houses in the inter-war period - when folk had more free time than ever before but weren't yet in access of private televisions. The perfect formula to build these kinds of industries until the bubble popped.
It was opened by Councillor John Rogers, chairman of the Newburn UDC and who, as a labourer, had worked on the building since the first sod was cut. He also took part in the granting of the license on his first appearance as a magistrate. It seated a massive 850 persons, and proceeds of the opening performances were given to the Northumberland Aged Miners Homes Fund, the Newburn Cottage Hospital and the Newburn and Throckley Nursing Association. It also featured a cafe and darts club inside.
The Lyric was closed in 1966 and went on to become a bingo club like so many. That only lasted 11 years, and was later demolished. These days it's a carpet, and the name lives on in Lyric Wines I guess...
Listing Description (if available)
These Ordnance Survey maps illustrate Throckley from 1964 back to the 20s. The Lyric Cinema can be seen in the first survey, but the plot is vacant in 1920 adjacent to the Methodist chapel. You will however see a first picture house which was opposite the Institute. This was the Picture and Variety Palace, a corrugated iron constructed which was formerly in Newburn, but was dismantled and transported here in 1912. In December 1922 it was destroyed by fire and Throckley went without a cinema until the Lyric.
Throckley overall was dominated by the railway from Throckley Colliery which led down the steep gradient to Lemington. Throckley was also connected to the Newcastle Tramway system in 1914.
The mid 19th century Ordnance Survey informs us Throckley as we know it is relatively a very new settlement. Its growth was accelerated by the pits and brickworks dotted all around the West Turnpike, and the coal owners needed an ideal site to accomodate their workers and families rather than walking in the dark from settlements further afield. Throckley in these days was fundamentally a group of farmsteads, a country house, a couple pit rows, a quarry and collieries back then.
The site of the Lyric Cinema in September 2025, now a car park and convenience store.
The Lyric from the West Road, with the church on the left in 1956. Source: Francis Frith
The quite vast interior of the Lyric at its zenith in 1938. Source: Newcastle Libraries