Writing this post almost every day I am conscious of the fact that there is some repetition but that doesn't bother me because my purpose is to jog peoples memories and remind them of change, some for the better but some losses are regretted.
This is one of the regrets, the old Majestic Cinema. This was in 1982. I'm not sure at the moment when it actually closed. Forgive me for burdening you but here's an interview I did that sheds some light.
MAJESTIC CINEMA AND MATT HARTLEY.
13 November 2004
Interview with Boris Hartley at his bungalow, the first red brick one up Greenberfield Lane.
Boris Hartley Born 10 May 1931. Father was Harry Hartley [son of Harold Hartley] mother was Olive nee Jacques. Her father was an engine driver at a mill in Skipton and had 18 children. They lived on Brook Street and this is where Boris was born. For the first two years of his life his cradle was the second drawer down in a chest of drawers in the bedroom. Harry had gone out to Niagara Falls when he came back after WW1 as it wasn’t certain then that the family business could support all the brothers. He came back round about 1928 when Matt offered him the job of managing the Gem (Later the Plaza) at Skipton. It was here that he met Olive and married her round about 1935. Boris said that there was another cinema opposite the bus station, the one I remember as the Odeon. It was started by a man called Morrison and was called the Morriseum. The Hartley family sold the Plaza in the mid 1990s.
Matt Hartley was Boris’s great grandfather, he had three sons, Rennie, Harold and Fred. Matt was born in Colne and his first venture seems to have been a pie and pea shop opposite the bank at the top of Colne.
I’ve searched the 1881 census and the only family I can come up with that fits is;
1881 census for Colne
John HARTLEY, 46, born Colne, Head, Plasterer
Mary A. HARTLEY, wife, 45, born Colne, Housekeeper
Pemberton HARTLEY, 17, born Colne, Son, plasterers Apprentice
Rennie HARTLEY. 14, born Colne, Son, Cotton Weaver
Henry HARTLEY. 12 , born Colne, Son, Scholar
Andaliza HARTLEY. 10, born Colne, Daughter, Scholar
Fred HARTLEY, 5 , born Nelson, Son, Scholar.
I asked Boris if his Gt Grandfather could have been known as John because this family seems to fit. He told me that he didn’t know but Matt seems to have been a bit of a character.
If this is the right family, and it seems to fit, Matt went walkabout sometime before 1875 and Boris says that he knows he was building houses in Marsden Heights at one time. This would fit in with Fred’s birth in Nelson in 1876. If he came back to Colne, still in the building trade, he must have been there until at least 1891 because there is no mention in the Barnoldswick census of him for that year. He built the Majestic in 1914 and so a move to Barlick just before 1900 would give him time to get established.
The majestic was a very early leisure centre. There was a ballroom which doubled as a roller skating rink and a billiard hall with 14 full sized tables on the first floor. The cinema was in the centre and when it first started was gas-lit but with a generator powered by a small gas engine which supplied power for the arc lamp for the projectors. Walt Fisher said this was on rails so it could be moved from one projector to the other when they changed reels. Later a larger engine and generator were added to light the whole of the building. Both engines were in a room behind the screen and they had their own gas producer in the same room, they drove the generators with leather belts. There was also a gentleman’s club, the entrance to this was in Fernlea Avenue next to the library. I’ve been told that it wasn’t unknown for people to play cards for money in there. There were shops on the front of the building on either side of the stairs leading up to the foyer of the cinema.
As well as the Majestic he built Station Chambers and the shops opposite the Majestic. He built six lock-up shops on the site where the Post Office is now. Boris thinks that he had a hand in building the block on the corner of Albert Road in 1906 that now houses the Occasion and two other small shops with accommodation over the top.
On the 11th of November 1940 M Hartley and Sons Limited presented a silver gilt chain to the Urban District Council as Chairman’s Regalia. It was in memory of Mr Fred Hartley’s service to the Council. Matt Hartley himself was a councillor from 1920 to 1922. The story in the family is that at some point Matt fell out with the council and asked for the chain back. They believe that the reason for the falling out was that the council wouldn’t allow him to lay a water main from Church Street to a building on the hill up to St James’ Square that Matt had built as a public swimming baths. This building is earlier than 1940 and was Phineas Brown’s electrical works before 1922 so there is a mis-match between the story and the dates. However, the building was never used as a swimming bath and Matt dropped his plans for further development up towards the Square. The present owner, Mr Berisford tells me that at one time it was used for ice-making and of course in my time in the 1960s it was the Croft Garage. In 2004 the sign ‘Croft Garage’ can still be seen on the gable end facing Skipton Road.
Walt Fisher was right about the films of the gala. Boris did them in 1951 and 1952 and they were filmed off the wall top in Skipton Road. He said they added music tracks to them and showed them from about four rows down from the back of the stalls. He doesn’t know where these films are now.
Harry and Olive lived at No 4 Ellis Street, Fred and Bertha at No 6 and Rennie at no 8. Harold Hartley was married to Teresa and lived on Ellis Street as well. He looked after the gas engines and liked his pint.
At some point Matt built the first two red brick bungalows up Greenberfield Lane. Boris lives in the first one. There is a lot of wood panelling from the liner Majestic in the house, also doors, painted wood panels and stained and painted glass. Boris said that the chandelier at the top of the stairs into the Majestic Cinema was from the liner as well and agrees with Walt Fisher that the pay box was the old Purser’s office.
Boris said that Arthur Harper started at the Palace Cinema playing the piano for the silent films. At weekends they had a trio. He eventually became secretary and manager for M Hartley and Sons Ltd. Boris isn’t sure whether Matt built the Palace but he certainly had a large interest in it. Barmy Mick bought the Palace off M Hartley and Sons in about 1960 and opened it as a cheap shop. George Formby and Billy Cotton’s Band Show both played at the Palace.
In the late 50s and early 1960s Boris ran what they called ‘Barlick Pop’ at the Majestic, usually on Wednesday evening. In 1959 he had a visit one Friday from three men, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Brian Epstein. They were touring round looking for bookings and had been at the Imperial Ballroom at Nelson. The manager there had booked them and suggested that they try the Majestic at Barnoldswick. When Boris asked Brian Epstein how much they wanted he said £28. Boris said he couldn’t go higher than £15 because they only charged a shilling for entry. He said he could book The Hollies, Freddy and the Dreamers and Gene Vincent for £5 to £10. They all appeared at the Majestic from time to time. Brian Epstein gave Boris a demo record of ‘Please, please me’ and asked him to play it for the kids and if they liked it he could get in touch about a booking. This record floated round in Boris’s collection for years until one day two lasses who had been helping him asked if they could have it. He gave it to them and in 2000 realised that only 15 of these demo records had been made and one had sold at Christie’s in New York for £85,000!
One more interesting fact. Boris said that one thing he always remembered was the smell of the venue when he opened it up the morning after and went in to sweep up. There were no snack foods in those days and most people brought oranges and peas in pods. He said the place smelled of orange peel.
SCG/22 November 2004
