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Fosse Cinema and Ballroom
  • The Fosse Cinema was built in 1936 on the site of the former Pool Road Maternity Hospital.
  • It was one of the most modern cinemas in Leicester, with an Art Deco frontage and colourful stained-glass panels.
  • The Fosse was one of the last suburban cinemas in Leicester to close.

Origins  

The Fosse Cinema was built in 1936 on the site of the former Pool Road Maternity Hospital. Due to insufficient funds, the opening of the cinema was delayed for three years. It was designed by local architect Frank Smith based in Pocklington’s Walk. In addition to the main auditorium, the cinema featured a balcony with a total seating capacity of 1500 and a lounge with spacious sofas where patrons could relax before taking their seats.  

The Scarborough Circuit took over the Fosse in 1938, and by 1954 it was operated by the Evington Cinema Circuit. In 1955 the cinema was equipped with CinemaScope. Despite changes in ownership, the Fosse retained the signature green colour scheme.

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Opening night 

It was one of the most modern cinemas in Leicester, with an Art Deco frontage and colourful stained-glass panels. A sign at the entrance announced that the projection equipment was the same as on the RMS Queen Mary. 

Comedy duo Charlie Clapham and Bill Dwyer, who were appearing at the Palace Theatre in Leicester, dashed the Fosse during their interval to perform the opening ceremony. The first film screened was the Marx “Brothers' A Night At The Opera”, followed by Laurel and Hardy in “The Bohemian Girl”, and Todd Slaughter in “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.

The Final Curtain 

The Fosse was one of the last suburban cinemas in Leicester to close. Its final screening was on Sunday 16 August 1981. The final screenings were “Cleopatra Jones” and a film depicting biker gangs, “Hard Ride”. 

It was sold to the Barry Noble Group with plans to convert the circle into a cinema and the stalls into a bingo club, but the cinema plan never came to fruition. The building continued as a bingo and social club until 1997 and was demolished in July 1998.

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Roman Leicester

(47- 500) A military fort was erected, attracting traders and a growing civilian community to Leicester (known as Ratae Corieltauvorum to the Romans). The town steadily grew throughout the reign of the Romans.

Medieval Leicester

(500 – 1500) The early years of this period was one of unrest with Saxon, Danes and Norman invaders having their influences over the town. Later, of course, came Richard III and the final battle of the Wars of the Roses was fought on Leicester’s doorstep.

Tudor & Stuart Leicester

(1500 – 1700) The wool trade flourished in Leicester with one local, a former mayor named William Wigston, making his fortune. During the English Civil War a bloody battle was fought as the forces of King Charles I laid siege to the town.

Georgian Leicester

(1700 – 1837) The knitting industry had really stared to take hold and Leicester was fast becoming the main centre of hosiery manufacture in Britain. This new prosperity was reflected throughout the town with broader, paved streets lined with elegant brick buildings and genteel residences.

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