A fairly regular visitor at The Empire was Bobby Thompson, ' The Little Waster' as this advert of April 1955 shows.
The Merry Magpies was the name of the variety show which featured Bobby Thompson and was recently named after Newcastle United's recent FA Cup win. They ran for about 7 years and were popular even as theatre audiences began to decline.
Donor : Hartlepool Museum Service
Creator : NDM
Location
The Empire Theatre opened in Lynn Street in 1909 with 2000 seats and for a number of years proved very popular. By the early 1950s, audience numbers were dwindling rapidly and in 1956, it was owned by the Essoldo Cinema Group and became a cinemascope cinema although the Essoldo cinema itself was in York Road. The gallery and balcony were closed at this time. In August 1959, it was closed as a cinema and the last theatre production was in November 1959 and was the West Hartlepool Operatic and Dramatic Society's production of Carousel. Proving economically unviable, in 1961 the building was turned into a Bingo Hall. However, its location and increased competition from a number of other Bingo Halls saw it close in 1964.
It was finally demolished in 1975.
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