BLACKBURN’S Thwaites Empire Theatre takes centre stage this year, as it celebrates its centenary.

It’s been at the site in Ewood for 100 years, with its early beginnings as one of the country’s first electric cinemas.

Now a new book, charting its history has been released, titled The Fall and Rise of the Empire.

The edifice, which cost £1,400, was built on land owned by Elma Yerburgh, daughter of Daniel Thwaites II, who had inherited the brewery when he died in 1888.

The founders of that original Empire Electric Theatre, Ferdinand Caton, of Catterall Street, Livesey Branch Road and Christopher Hope of Downham Street,signed the lease of the 970 square yards of land in Aqueduct Road, in February 1910 and rent was set at £12 2s and 6d.

Within a year three more directors, from similar humble backgrounds, Henry Duckworth, Benjamin Meadowcroft Hall and Henry Ainsworth had come on board to live their dream.

At this time the Empire Electric Theatre was one of a dozen in Blackburn, as going to the Cinema was regarded as a wholesome entertainment.

It was also affordable to most people and the Empire charged 3d for a seat in the stalls or 6d for one on the balcony.

At the time films were silent, but the audience would often get caught up in the action on screen. To keep the places hygienic, those who stayed in their seats between films would be sprayed with sweet smelling air-freshening liquids.

Considering many cinemas soon earned themselves the nickname ‘flea-pits’, this may well have been disinfectant.

Watching films for long periods was thought to damage eyesight, so variety acts were also booked. These included Tom Florence, a comedian and dancer despite having only one leg — and whose act was described as ‘ the greatest and most intricate clog dance in the world’.

There was also Peter Rhodes, the singing miner, Fred Willis the ‘well known eccentric character’ and Leonard Clarke a boy club and sword swinger!

The first advert for the Electric Theatre is known to have appeared in September 1912 and boasted the film Mysteries of Paris, at more than 5,000 feet long.

As silent films were projected at 60 feet per minute this would have lasted around an hour and a quarter, which was quite something for the times.

As the years pass, the book tells us of the patriotic films shown during the Great War, the dramatic win in court against Blackburn Corporation to repair the river wall and prevent the building collapsing and the new talkie films, first shown around 1930.

In 1946 the cinema was sold to the Northern Theatre Company for £13,000 and manager was Joseph Thompson, who also ran the Cinema Royal.

Move on another 11 years and it became the Essoldo, before the group which consisted of 52 cinemas was sold on to the Classic Group, in 1972 for £4.3million.

Within 18 months, the Empire was closed and fell into disuse... until Blackburn Theatre Trust began the second half of the story to transform it into today’s lively entertainment venue.

• The Fall and Rise of the Empire, written by Melanie Warren and published by Open Mic History Books, is £12 and available from Thwaites Theatre, call the box office on 01254 685500