The Electric Theatre

York’s first purpose-built cinema came in 1911 when the excitingly named Electric Theatre was opened on Fossgate. It lasted several decades, becoming the Scala in 1951 and the unusual building, decorated with theatrical figures, can still be seen today.

It was commonly known as the Laugh and Scratch. There are surviving oral history accounts mentioning walking on the snap crackle and pop of peanut shells, the playing of piano for horse scenes and a violin for sob stories, and of people given items in kind like jam jars instead of payment to get in.