Durham Road, Birtley Hall/Hippodrome/Apollo

Birtley Hall, brick-built with a corrugated iron roof, was opened as a roller skating rink in October 1910. By 1911 it was used for boxing and dancing. In October 1912 it became Birtley's biggest cinema with 900 seats and a billiard hall. It was run by Alexander Hastie. The cheap seats were wooden benches, the best were green leather. The cinema closed in 1913. In November 1916 it was reopened by Belgian refugees based at Elisabethville. When the Belgians returned home in 1919 it became a bus garage and jam factory. It became the Apollo Cinema in 1935, run by E.R. Eadie and Henry Faid who had run the Classic in Low Fell. It became a Dawe Brothers cinema in 1951. The last film was shown in November 1964. The Apollo was demolished in 1981.