THE year was 1929 and the Pentridge picture house became the first to be wired for sound in Burnley.

It beat the town centre Savoy Cinema, with its plush cafe, as the first to introduce 'talkies' to its customers, thanks to the permanent installation of new sound equipment.

As the Savoy, which stood in a prim position in Manchester Road, had tested a a sound system some 18 months earlier, but rejected it as unsatisfacory, it is often mistakenly reported as winning the race.

The Pentridge, in Holmes Street, had opened in part of a Victorian textile mill in 1910 – cotton weaving still continued at the rear - and it was remodelled and enlarged in 1920.

Its first talkie on May 20, 1929, was Hot News starring Bebe Daniels and it had a monopoly for 14 weeks, until the Savoy installed an Western Electric sound system and showed Al Jolson in The Singing Fool in August.

Three weeks later, the Imperial at Gannow Top, a purpose-built cinema with cafe, also got in on the act, offering 800 seats at 6d.

A year later the Pentridge had new out-of-town operators, who immediately branded it the Regal; their other cinema, the Alhambra in Trafalgar Street, became a newcomer to talkies in 1930.