In 1892 a Mr John Walters and two partners secured the premises known as Barkers Foundry  with the intention of converting the premises into a theatre. The theatre opened on Monday September 18th 1893 with seating for 2,200  remnants of  the Foundry windows can be seen bricked up behind the rear stage wall.  Known as the Art Picture Palace around 1911, and then The Empire Theatre at which time the entertainment was half pictures half talent show.

 

Many  touring companies appeared at the theatre as well Dame Nellie Melba,  the famous Soprano pictured right. Maisie Hanbury pictured below  and Colonel William Cody better known as Buffalo Billl shown left.  Other celebrities to have performed on the stage of the Empire were Mike Hamburg a famous pianist, Arthur Askey, Terry Thomas, Ken Dodd.

 

 

 

 

In 1934 a well known Bacupian, was convinced that the town had talent and was capable of putting on a show similar to those put on in other towns. He succeeded in getting others interested and the Waterside Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society was formed. Quaker Girl in 1935 and Arcadians in 1936 were two highly successful productions before the name of the Society was changed to the Bacup Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.  More productions until 1939 when at the outbreak of war it became impossible to continue. Some of the pre war shows included Katinka, Babes In The Wood the first show after the war was No No Nanette then  The Girl Friend, Ten Little Niggers, The Blue Goose, A Man About The House and Distinguished Gathering  to name but a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burnley Road was originally known as Church Street due to the only church in the town being situated there i.e. St Johns Evangelist. The original site of the Regal housed what was thought to be the very first Cotton Mill ever to be built in Bacup in 1799 and was first worked by Edmund Whittaker of Bank House Bacup. It is said that Church Street mill had the first steam engine in Bacup and possibly the whole of Rossendale.

 

 

 By 1878 the old mill had been demolished and in its place a new Public Hall had been built, the Public Hall consisted of  six lock up shops on the ground floor, with six rooms at the back for storage. The Public Hall which was built to hold 800-900 people, held a Skating Rink pictured above and stage for shows and other performances, such as those performed by the Rossendale Theatre and  was opened by Dr Worrall in March 1878.

 

 

Previous to being known as the Kozy it was known as the Gem Picture Palace,
Kozy showed silent films changing the progr­amme each Thursday and Monday, admission being 3d to 9d(01d money). Matinees were held Tues­day and Saturday at 2pm admission being 1d, 3d and 5d. The pictures were shown with breaks in between for the supposed spoken word to be shown and it was a succ­essful type of entertainment. Sometimes at the Kozy when films were shown with a musical background, as a special attraction local artists such as John Wille Thompson (Bass,) A Cooper (Tenor), Sarah Beswick (Soprano) were engaged to sing songs (that appeared in the picture) during the special interval, from the stage in front of the screen. This was indeed a special feature when the film was not changed, as was usual, but was on for six nights running. The Kozy and King's cinema at Waterfoot were under the same man­agement so used to join at films and this was done by showing a film at one cinema and then a lad on a bike would strap the cannister containing the film on his back and take it from one cinema to the other and vice versa. On occasions there would be a delay and people would be kept waiting for the next film. Films broke regularly passing through the projector and the lights used to go on until a repair was made. Hughie Howorth, a tall man with a slight stoop and who sported a moustache, was the manager of the Kozy and a chap called Boucher at the Empire. The projectionists were Sammy Lord and Len Wilkinson, who later married an ush­erette at the same cinema called Gwillam.

   

      

 

The Regal Super Cinema Opened on September 7th 1931 with seating for 900 people the Cinema closed in September 1958 later opening as a Bingo Hall