18/06/2026
Letter from Sydney Lionel Francis-Clare, general manager of the Savoy Picture House, offering to stage a series of Sunday evening concerts to raise funds for the Grimsby Cenotaph, January 1921.
North East Lincolnshire Archives Reference: 1/451/19/7.
The Savoy Picture House opened on 24th May 1920. The building was the work of C C Chadwick and William Watson, architects, who also designed the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford. The first manager of the cinema was Sydney Lionel Francis-Clare, who is recorded in the 1921 Census as living at 11 Duchess Street with his wife, Florence, and his son, Alan. Sydney Lionel Francis-Clare was born in Barnsbury in London; his wife, who came from Birmingham, was formerly a music hall artiste.
At the time of its opening the Savoy Picture House was the most opulent cinema in Grimsby. It had the latest projection equipment, thick-piled carpets and the auditorium was smartly decorated in cream and gold. Another luxury was a tearoom, which was located on the first floor. The Savoy was the first cinema in Grimsby to show talkies when "The Singing Fool", with Al Jolson, played for two weeks in 1929.
The Savoy was re-named the Gaumont in April 1950, and in 1962 there was another name change to the Odeon. The Rank Organisation leased the cinema to the independent Brent Walker Group in October 1975, and it was re-named the Focus. Just over two years later, on 24th December 1977, the Focus Cinema closed. In the early 1980s the building was converted into shops and a MacDonald’s restaurant opened on 3rd December 1984. The former Savoy Picture House was listed Grade II in June 1999.
