THIS corner of Burnley, outside the Savoy Cinema, was certainly bustling with life when the Telegraph photographer captured it on film in the summer of 1953.

Many of the shoppers and pedestrians appear to be on their way for afternoon tea at the cinema's popular cafe, which was, in its day, considered very plush.

The Savoy, on the corner of Manchester Road and Red Lion Street in the town centre, opened in 1922 with Cecile B. De Mille’s film 'Saturday Night'.

In this image it is advertising daily matinees at 2.15pm and continuous showings in the evening from 6pm.

With more than 1,000 seats for film lovers, it was the main cinema in Burnley until the Odeon opened in Yorkshire Street in 1937 and could accommodate 2,000 people.

Other cinemas in the town centre then were the Empire and Palace, both originally theatres, the Grand and the Roxy.

It is believed the Savoy was the first to regularly show 'talkies', rather then silent films, when it was equipped with the latest sound system in 1929 and screened The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson.

Only three years after this photograph was taken the Savoy Cinema closed and the building, with its distinctive dome, was demolished and a branch of Martins Bank built on the site.