Look ahead for a striking white building with black timber framing and an old-fashioned gable right in the center, making it look a bit like a Tudor house that auditioned for a Hollywood movie!
Now, as you stand outside The Picture House, imagine stepping back to 1913. The street would be full of excited chatter as people queued up in their Sunday best, ready for a magical night out at one of Stafford’s earliest cinemas. Picture the flicker of the gas lamps, the buzz of anticipation, and perhaps, if you listen closely, you can almost hear the distant sound of someone dropping a penny in the original ticket booth-which, believe it or not, is still there to this day. When it opened, the very first film was “The House of Temperley,” lighting up the auditorium with its seven-bay barrel-vaulted ceiling and grand plasterwork. In 1917, a mighty cinema organ was brought in, and by 1930, the place was electrified-literally and figuratively-when the first ‘talkie’ crackled through the speakers, leaving silent movies behind. Generations of the Everston family ran this place with the flair of a showman, until the curtains finally fell in 1995. But in true movie style, there was a twist ending: in 1997, the Picture House was reborn as a Wetherspoons pub. Now, instead of popcorn, you get pints! Every time you walk in, you’re not just entering a pub-you’re stepping onto the set of Stafford’s living history. Quite a blockbuster spot for a drink, wouldn’t you say?
