FIFTY years ago the final curtain was about to fall on one of Barrow’s grand old cinema.

The Essoldo, on Abbey Road, had been struggling to make ends meet and the decision to close was announced on The Mail, on May 23 in 1968.

It was noted: “The Essoldo, one of Barrow’s three remaining cinemas, is to close on June 1.

“Declining takings have prompted its owners, the Newcastle-based Essoldo Circuit, to take this action.”

The cinema’s manageress, Mrs Vera Hill, told The Mail: “Business has just gone down and down.

“It’s a shame. It’s another era ended in the town.

“But if we have been a little, privately-owned cinema on our own, we would have had to close a long time ago.

“The losses have been absorbed in the group.”

The article noted: “The staff at the Essoldo would all be redundant.

“Those with more than two years’ service were hoping to get redundancy pay.

“Long-serving members of the staff include the head cleaner, Mrs Isabel Briley, with 27 years’ service and Mrs Hill herself, who has worked at the Coliseum and later the Essoldo for a total of 17 years.

The Essoldo was among several other traditional Barrow cinemas to have closed.

They include the Electric Theatre, closed 1957; Walney cinema, 1959; Coliseum, 1964 and the Odeon, 1976.

Barrow’s Essoldo cinema had opened in 1913 as the Gaiety Theatre and Picturedrome – the town’s first purpose-built cinema.

It could hold 1,000 people for films and stage shows.

In the silent film era, there was accompaniment from an orchestra and later a cinema organ.

The first talkie film at the Abbey Road cinema was On With The Show in April 1930.

New ownership in 1950 saw the name change from Gaiety to Essoldo.

The last film to be shown at the Essoldo in 1968 was The Blood of the Vampire and Africa Addio.

After demolition of the redundant and decaying building, the site became Jubilee House from 1977.