Dudley, Castle Hill, The Junction With Tipton Road c.1960

Photo ref: D103076

More about this scene

We are looking from just inside Birmingham Road up Castle Hill, with Tipton Road off to the right. On the extreme left is the Station Garage, then an Austin dealership. Behind that is the Station Hotel, a replacement of an earlier building of the same name built in 1936. Between the two buildings runs the railway, at a much lower level. On the opposite side of the road stands the Plaza cinema with the Hippodrome theatre next to it. The Plaza replaced an earlier cinema on the same site, and opened on 28 May 1936. It survived to be Dudley's last cinema. (Author's Collection) Dudley Hippodrome replaced the Opera House, which had stood on Castle Hill since 1899 but had been destroyed by fire in November 1936. Built in Art Deco style, the Hippodrome was one of the top ten variety venues in the country. It was part of the premier Moss Empires circuit of theatres, and anybody who was or became anybody in entertainment played there at one time or another. It closed in 1958, but opened briefly as a venue for nude reviews and blue comic shows, closing finally as a theatre in 1964. Since then it has enjoyed life as a bingo hall. This advertisement is for one of the first pantomimes in the new theatre.