Sale town centre is set to welcome its first new cinema in nearly 40 years, as Trafford council has given the green light for a luxury independent cinema to take over a former WH Smith outlet. The three-screen picture house, named The Northern Light Cinema, will be located in Stanley Square, at the heart of Sale’s main shopping hub.
The two larger screens will accommodate 57 seats each, while the smaller screen will house 39 seats. According to a report on Trafford council’s planning portal, the transformation from retail unit to cinema is deemed acceptable and is expected to boost the vitality of Sale town centre without causing any negative impact on nearby residents.
A design and access statement submitted by Derbyshire-based Manero Ltd, the company behind the project, describes the upcoming cinema as a ‘welcoming and accessible’ building. The aim is to create a vibrant cultural space that will be open to everyone 364 days a year.
The statement further reads: “Our proposal will transform the space into a cinema showing a wide variety of quality films. The cinema will bring a vitality to the evening economy and benefit the current retail developments, bars and restaurants by offering an entertainment venue to complement the Stanley Square scheme.”
Sale, a town with a rich cinematic history, has seen several cinemas come and go. The largest was the Odeon, boasting 1,940 seats when it opened in 1934, only to close in 1987, reports the Manchester Evening News. The building remains standing, but is now a retail outlet, with most of the old cinema lying unused.
The Palace, Sale’s oldest cinema, opened its doors in 1910, initially screening silent films before installing a sound system for ‘talkies’ in 1929. It closed in 1954 and served as a theatre until 1962, when it was destroyed by fire.
Known as the ‘posh’ cinema, The Savoy, or Savoy Cinema-de-Luxe as it was originally named, opened in 1913. After changing hands multiple times, it became an Associated British Cinema (ABC) in 1937 and was renamed as such in 1963. The Savoy closed its doors in 1977 and was subsequently demolished, replaced by a block of flats.
The Warwick, the fourth and final cinema in Sale, doubled as a theatre. Its large stage and numerous dressing rooms made it the perfect venue for the town’s annual pantomime. It fell victim to a fire in the late 1960s.
Today, the nearest cinemas to Sale are the Odeon Trafford Centre, Vue Salford and Everyman Altrincham.
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