Visit the newly restored Hyde Park Picture House (HPPH) and as the reminders to switch off your phone or stop talking echo across the auditorium, you’ll see an animation of Doc Brown’s DeLorean from Back to the Future hovering towards the equally-iconic 109 year old venue. With gas-lit lamps, red velvet seats and the untouched ornate balcony, it encapsulates the feeling of visiting the cinema.

Opening shortly after the outbreak of World War 1 to show audiences propaganda films and news bulletins, the Grade II listed cinema has weathered over it’s 109 year history. Some storms the cinema had to adapt to. Namely, the installation of gas-lights amid concerns for female cinema goers who had to use hairpins to protect themselves in the darkened auditorium. At other times, the cinema basked in the warm glow of better times. 

With £2.3 million funding from National Lottery and Leeds City Council secured, the cinema closed to undergo necessary restoration work. Despite audiences unaware of the issues HPPH faced, amid the landscape of a struggling industry nation-wide, Marketing and Communications Manager Ollie Jenkins admits just how bad things were. While that (slightly less) dark auditorium may have been able to “paper over the crack” for a few years, Ollie acknowledges the need for “fundamental intervention to stop it getting catastrophically bad”.

Fundamental intervention [needed] to stop it [the condition of the cinema] getting catastrophically bad

Ollie Jenkins, Marketing and Communications Manager

The successful run of Bong Jung-ho’s Oscar winning Parasite was one of the last major releases the cinema would show before closing later that year in 2019. Chris Blythe, Chief Executive of Leeds Heritage Theatres, remarked that there was no sense of “how long our original timeline would have to be extended.” Even that sounds like an understatement. In addition to the challenges faced restoring a heritage Grade II listed building, Covid-19 massively impacted the timeline. With construction completely paused during 2020, there was no indication of when it could restart let alone reopen.

During this baron period of immense difficulty during construction, the Picture House managed to survive. “Hyde Park Picture House On the Road” screenings toured venues across the city including at Stylus. With numerous discoveries from over 100 years of cinema-going, Treasure Trash Tuesday on social media became the outlet for sharing the cinema’s oddities. This included pre-war chocolates, a mummified banana and a packet of yeast. But most importantly, the cinema continued to fundraise to ensure the completion of the restoration. Selling everything from a sponsored seat with a personalised plaque, sponsoring the street light or purchasing a tile from a disused mosaic, additional fundraising efforts took the restoration budget over £4 million.

Despite the second screen still incomplete, the cinema appropriately reopened in late June with Wes Anderson’s Android City. Much like the cinema itself, Anderson laced the film with a warm nostalgia despite being brand new. Like the ticket booth on entry or Anderson’s replica models, both feature quirks that don’t reflect the norm today. And just like Wes Anderson’s signature long takes, colour pallets or symmetry, the cinema is equally brimming with it’s own unique characteristics.

Android City felt like a soft launch for the 109-year old cinema compared to the Barbie fueled mania that hit Leeds shortly after. As the cinema’s next major release opening on 21st July, Hyde Park became awash with pink cowboy hats and feather boas, leaving remnants drifting down the street like tumbleweeds in the aforementioned westerns. Just look out your window onto Cardigan or Brudenell Road and the flow of pink-cladded cinema goers told you whether another screening was just starting or finished. For the next two weeks following the movie’s release, virtually every screening was a sellout.

Now fully reopened, Hyde Park Picture House has continued its fierce support of independent and arthouse films. With strands including Creatures of the Night, Cinema Africa!, Tuesday Wonders and other special screenings thanks to the addition of the more intimate screen downstairs. Reruns of classics and new releases are screened in HPPH’s main 219 seat screen, complete with the one-of-a-kind gas lamps and balcony view. As the lights descend, Doc Brown’s DeLorean isn’t the only thing reminding you this is a special venue brought back to life.

Students under the age of 25 can register for a free membership to access £6 tickets. HPPH publishes bi-monthly guides or you can access the full schedule here.