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The Cosy Picture Hall, Swalwell
The Cosy was above the shops
Situated on Spencer's Bank, above the Chemist and Fish Shop, it was owned by the Watson family. It was bought in the 1920`s by a Mr Nicholls, who lived in Scotswood, and was later taken over by a Mr Whitfield.
The entrance and exit were seperate and the hall was triangular shaped with the projection box behind a partition and the screen at the other (widest) end
In the early days the manager, Hockey Watson, was the projectionist whilst his wife, Bertha, who had a voice like a foghorn, kept the children in order and sold pop and ice-cream during the interval. Tella Todd, a friend of one of Hockey's daughters, played the piano with great gusto. Entrance was up stone stairs and you paid at a cubby-hole at the top. It was a bare hall with rows of wooden seats, joined together in sets of 7`s or 8`s all along one side with an aisle on the other side. The best seats were at the back and these were upholstered. The hall was lit by gas and the programme changed twice a week. It was open every evening except Sunday and there were usually three films, a comedy, a drama and a serial. There was a matinee at 4.30 pm on a Monday and another at 2.30 pm on a Saturday. Every Christmas the cinema provided a barrel of apples and oranges for the children's matinee.
Eventually, like a lot of small cinemas it closed down in 1957 after magistrates refused to renew its licence on safety grounds, for its poor ventilation and the absence of natural light.