The Building

Plans for Super Cinema and Variety Theatre were submitted to Stockport Council in 1929.  Three years later, in 1932, was completed with a seating capacity of in excess of 1850.  It was commissioned by the Reid, Snape and Ward cinema circuit and designed by Architect, W Thornley of Wigan.  It was, and still could be, described as the most architecturally sophisticated public entertainment building ever to be constructed in Stockport.   

The site, in Mersey Square, Stockport, was previously occupied by a row of small terraced cottages, backing onto the sandstone cliff that form one side of the Mersey gorge.  The site was chosen because of its great commercial potential, with all Stockport’s buses and trams terminating in the Square.  However, it presented a huge technical challenge.  10,000 tons of rock had to be removed to make room for the new Super Cinema and buildings on each side had to be shored up during the massive excavation work.  Despite its extensive frontage, most of is actually underground with 12 dressing rooms forty feet below street level, most of which are accessed from a corridor which runs full width underneath the stage. 

The dramatic front elevation, in white terracotta, was originally illuminated by 300 feet of red and green neon lighting and it is planned to restore this as part of the proposed renovation works. 

During construction, no expense was spared on the interior of . The Super Cinema contains rich plaster decoration throughout the foyers, auditorium and large first floor café, which still has its own entrance and can be opened independently of the theatre.  The original café décor is still in place but is currently covered by a 1960’s “makeover”, which will be removed as part of restoration plans.

Foyers were lit by Neron Vitalux lamps, which provided heat and ultraviolet rays to shed “perpetual summer sunshine” on patrons.  Virtually all the front of house and auditorium lighting was concealed in troughs and coves. 

The original decoration included gold and silver glazes, glowing with colour generated by a complex Holophane lighting system, which was a three circuit arrangement that could be adjusted to produce any colour of the rainbow. The central dome was lined with silver foil, which cast multicoloured light down into the auditorium from the 1000 lamps around its base.  6000 lamps were used in the whole installation, which is out of action at present but is included in the restoration plans for . 

A full height fly tower extends across the front third of the stage.  The rear two-thirds runs underneath the street at the back of the building, making larger inside than out!  A massive riveted lattice steel beam, across the stage, supports the back wall of the building and the street.  The proscenium is uncharacteristically large for the 1930’s and presented no projection problems when wide screen formats were introduced in the 1950’s.

Currently, the building is functioning but far from restored.  Together with structural work, there is the huge task of reinstating the original features that separate from most other surviving Super Cinema buildings.  At the moment, is a building which is evocative, attractive and nostalgic but which hides much of its historic charm and significance.  What we will see in a fully restored PLAZA will be a revelation.