Show on mapDespite its theatre/cinema looks this building was built as a department store for the Stockton Co-operative Society.
The building is currently used as carpet shop, although the Billigham Players use the “Theatre Upstairs”
The building outline appears in its current form between the 1938 and 1939 editions of the OS map, although it could date from slightly earlier if the 1938 was already out of date.
I’ve found a reference to the nearby Heslops Brewey being sold to the Billingham Picture House Company in 1936 and demolished shortly afterwards, so suspect this whole area dates from around that time.
I remember this shop from when I used to visit my grandparents in the 1970s. Think it was still the co-op then. Haven’t seen it since then, so thanks for posting the photos.
I remember this when it was the Co-op and I was just a kid what is now the carpet shop was the Coop butchers, the manager was called John. Later when I was inmy teens I went to dances in the hall above, I met a few girls there. An abiding memory is of the sweet shop (Pic 1 far right) it was there that I first tasted a KitKat I was about 6 and fell in love with the taste which I still enjoy today even at 78
My Dad played for the dances there. He was known as, Ken Scott and his band.