The County Playhouse, 31 King Street

The County Playhouse

By Wigan Local History and Heritage Society for the King Street Project

Built on the site of property previously owned by John Lord, one of the original families to settle on King Street, it is likely to have been the dwelling of the solicitor, William Ackerley, and also the offices of Lord and Ackerley solicitors.

The property crosses Faggy Lane, at first floor level the flying freehold of the land under the building which was purchased with the next-door property of John Lamb. This was replaced by the current building in the 1930’s.

The County Playhouse was built by Massey Brothers who were founded in 1904. The company were originally known for building glass houses then houses, cinemas and mills and eventually buses. They started building the County in 1916 but, due to the First World War and shortage of materials, it was not completed until 1919.

Some of their other buildings included the Queens cinema in Pemberton, the Palace cinemas in Atherton and Platt Bridge, the Carnegie Library in Ashton, and the Enfield Spinning and Weaving Mill.

The cinema opened on 22nd December 1919 showing “The Peril Within”, starring Dorothy Gish. It was equipped with a Wadsworth 2 manual organ. The first ‘talkie’ was the highly acclaimed “Broadway Melody of 1929” with Bessie Love and Charles King, which opened on 16th September 1929. The organ was resited into St Marie Roman Catholic Church, Standish in 1930.

A 2 Manual Christie organ was then installed to replace the Wadsworth organ, and it was opened by organist Mr. H. Ward on 24th December 1930. The cinema became host to many distinguished organists over the years. In 1932 & 1933 it was operated by the J.F. Emery Circuit. By 1934 it was operated by the Wigan based Eagle Picturedromes Ltd.

In 1936, to assist the hard of hearing, earphones were provided so patrons could hear the soundtrack via the specially adapted Ardente system.

In 1938 an early experiment with 3D was tried with a short novelty film produced by Pete Smith called “Audioscopik”.

A major fire in 1940 almost destroyed the building, a complete refurbishment was carried out shortly after. Further alterations prepared the playhouse for wide screen cinema in 1954. It finally closes as a playhouse in November 1966 and was taken over by Leeds based Star Cinemas chain who converted it into a bingo and social club two weeks later.

County Playhouse, King Street, when it was Ibiza nightclub circa 2000

It has since been used as a discount store, Playhouse Pub Café followed by a 1,200 capacity nightclub, Chaplain’s, and billiard hall. In 2000 it became the Ibiza nightclub when the previous nightclub moved into the former Princes Theatre.

Sources:
Wigan World
Cinema Treasures