Abbeydale Picture House: ‘Dry bar’ and programme of events launched at historic Sheffield venue

The bar in the former cinema was launched yesterday (January 12) as a pop up, providing a range of non-alcoholic drinks including beer, wine and spirits.

And on January 22, the venue will host a ‘baby rave’ event from 12pm - 2pm for families who have the urge to dance but can’t stay up too late.

The month will conclude with a techno based Collect! event on the 28th, making use of all the available parts of the building.

The bar is aptly timed to pop-up during dry January - a month-long commitment, made by many people around the world, to not drink any alcohol.

Abbeydale Picture House is a former 1920s cinema on Abbeydale Road in Sheffield. It was once the largest and most luxurious cinema in Sheffield, often referred to as the “Picture Palace” because of the luxurious cream and gold colour scheme. The cinema had seating for 1,560 people and also included a ballroom and a billiard hall.

The cinema closed on in July 1975 and was subsequently used as an office furniture showroom until 1991.

Over a decade later, the rebirth of the heritage site began, with a restoration project undertaken by multiple groups, including The Friends of Abbeydale Picture House.

CADS, a grassroots Sheffield arts charity, providing and supporting access to arts, culture and creativity since 2009, took on the lease for the building in January 2017, and plans to continue the long-term restoration project to bring the venue back into use.

The aim is to make all of the spaces within the listed site safe, event ready and vibrant. This will ultimately include the balcony spaces, all former bar and restaurant areas, the backstage area and smaller rooms.

In the longer term, the hope is that Heritage Lottery Funding will be available to undertake a full restoration with the eventual aim of creating a nationally-recognised community arts venue that showcases and celebrates it’s cinematic history.

CADS announced a plan to buy Abbeydale Picture House at the end of 2022.

Since then, the group has discovered that an application for funding from the UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund has not been successful, leading to a shortfall of over £250,000 in the amount needed to buy the building.

Steve Rimmer, from CADS, said: “Although we were sad to hear the news of the COF grant being unsuccessful, we’re absolutely thrilled with the progress made in the last month at The Abbeydale Picture House. Our new bar has proved popular and the public support for the whole project has been phenomenal.

“Abbeydale Road and the surrounding area plays host to a huge range of cultures and nationalities. We are determined to bring everyone into the Picture House and implore the public to come forward with ideas and suggestions on how the space can be used.

“We’re very grateful to our landlord for giving us a realistic time frame in which to complete the purchase before it goes onto the open market as we look for additional funding to replace the COF grant. Although we have a mortgage in place the bank’s valuation of the space is significantly less than the asking price due to their assessment of the state of repair and ‘renovation deficit’ but we believe the cost justifies the benefits to the people of Sheffield in preserving, modernising this building which can flourish into long standing community asset.”