A Focal Point for Penistone
Penistone Town Hall/Cinema was built by public subscription from local people and opened in 1914, in the days of Penistone Urban District Council. It was a theatre right from the start. From 1915, it also took on the role of cinema, which it continues to this day. Until 1966 Penistone Carnegie library was also part of the building, see the library page for more on that. Now it is used by the council as a public contact point and information on services.
The Town Hall is adjacent to local council facilities, the PDCP office and the Pengeston Masonic Hall and it is maintained by our local council. It was called 'Penistone Town Hall Cinema' until local government reorganisation in the 1970s put Penistone under the control of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, when it gained an unloved name: 'The Metro'.
Although the building was unquestionably built and owned by the residents of Penistone, Barnsley council took control and claimed ownership under council reorganisation in the 1970s. They also made it known that they would like to close it down and demolish it. Wheels were set in motion to enlighten our masters about the true ownership of the building but documents became 'lost' in Barnsley archives. The late Cllr George Punt was looking into it.
The mighty Paramount Compton Theatre Organ was installed in 1999 and the Town Hall changed its name to 'Penistone Paramount'. Since then, the building has been in use just about every day. It is still called the Town Hall in official documents. There were plans a few years ago to introduce film-making as a community activity and a couple of top-class camcorders were purchased by the council for this (what happened to them?) but the scheme never took off.
As a theatre and traditional cinema, it has shown top films and a variety of entertainments right from the earliest days, often with films shown on the national release date. The Paramount showed the premiere of 'Heartlands' in 2003 as special event. The stage is often used for live shows, tribute bands, comedy nights and amateur productions and pantomines from our two thespian societies. The licensed bar is open during film intervals, which helps the audience in its quest for the suspension of disbelief. There are also facilities for video conferencing. The first picture below was before the facelift of 2001.
Seating is fixed now but it used to be removed for dances until the 1970s and the sprung floor was ideal for dancing - or traditional foot-stamping when a film went wrong. Spring mechanisms under the floor sit on rows of pillars but they are now all chocked up. An improved projector put an end to the many breakdowns. It used to be very smokey in the old days and the projection beam would light up a shaft of smoke on its way to the screen. In fact, all the seating had small ash trays fitted. Not any more, as all UK public buildings are now no smoking areas.
Facilities are very good for a small independent cinema, with Dolby surround sound, a video projector, DVD player and satellite tv reception. Penistone people can be proud of our cinema and it is our most successful venture. Our thanks go to those far-sighted local people who raised money to build it nearly a century ago.
These pictures are mostly from an open day in 2005, when Steve Tales was the enthusiastic and knowledgeable manager. The discs are a film-winding and rewinding machine. The last picture is from a special Yorkshire Film Archive event in November 2008, when old film clips were shown. The first clip of a train was from the 1880s. The organist added to the occasion before films were shown and a commentator from YFA explained details about the film clips. He did make the mistake of referring to being 'in Barnsley' three times but we might forgive him for his poor grasp of geography, as he had travelled all the way from York.
Compton Paramount Theatre Organ
Paramount Organ performances are very popular on Market Day afternoons (Thursdays) when grey-haired music lovers pack coaches from far and wide to visit Penistone. Organ concerts are also held in St. Andrews church, next to the Library.
The brilliant white organ console gives no real impression of how elaborate are the marvelous workings beneath the stage. The whole under-stage area is filled with row upon row of pipes and other instruments to give the organ its wonderful wide range of voices. In its original setting at the Birmingham Odeon, the solenoid-operated console might also have controlled the theatre lights. Steve also showed me the Compton organ console and I was very privileged to see the secrets behind the scenes (under the stage really) in the pipe room. I share them with you in my Organ page.
