Today the basic outline of a formerly important building on Stockton High Street can just about be made out.
The Exchange Hall was built in 1874 at a spot at the lower end of the High Street, on the western side.
It was used as a place of business, meetings and events, much like exchange buildings to be found all over the country during the 19th century in particular.
An Important Event
Stockton’s Exchange Hall saw perhaps it’s proudest moment on 4 October 1893 to mark the occasion of the opening of the town’s Ropner Park – an important green space still in use today, but once on the edge of the town close to the village of Hartburn.
It was named after benefactor and local mayor and shipping magnate Sir Robert Ropner.
The event at the Exchange Hall was graced with the attendance of the Duke and Duchess of York, Prince George and Princess Mary, along with 350 other diners.
Stockton itself was awash with decoration and well-wishers at the visit of the second in line to the throne.
Exchange Hall Today
An Exchange Hall playbill. Taken from Stockton-on-Tees: A Colourful Past, by Paul Menzies.
In later Life the Exchange Hall was converted to a cinema in 1921. Impressively, it seated 1,500 people in the single auditorium.
After a fire in 1937, the cinema was rebuilt to hold 1,770 people.
The building was later taken over by the Essoldo Group – their second cinema in Stockton, taking on the name in 1955. However, the cinema was closed in 1964, becoming a bingo hall.
The frontage was split into a number of commercial units, occupied by shops and other businesses, which is the case today. The original entrance to the cinema still remains, but the auditorium itself was demolished following fires in 2002 and 2005 that left it unusable.
Do you remember the Exchange Hall or the Essoldo Cinema? Leave a comment below!