Jericho, Oxford

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 29 Jul 2013

This is a section of Walton Street - the A4144 - almost opposite the former Radcliffe Infirmary, looking in the direction of the city centre. The cinema first opened in 1913 showing ‘accompanied’ silent films under a “North Oxford Kinema” banner. It was renamed “The Scala” in 1920 under the ownership of the Gloucester-based entertainment firm, Pooles. In 1923 it was bought by Walker & Shaw Enterprises who introduced the showing of locally filmed newsreels. However, by 1925 it was being managed a Cockney showman called Ben Jay who renamed it “The New Scala” and who introduced musically accompanied community singing during the interval, with the words being projected onto the screen. In 1930, once the cinema had been taken over by the Poyntz family, it started to build its reputation as an art-house cinema. The Scala showed both classics and the latest foreign films whilst allocating Sundays to the Oxford Film Society. In 1970, after it had been taken over by Leeds-based Star Associated Holdings Ltd the cinema was 'twinned' and became Studios 1 and 2. In 1977 the cinema was revived yet again when it was taken over by the Contemporary Entertainments Company of London. It was then that it acquired its current name, the Phoenix. The management started showing more first-run films and although the cinema became more successful, with the possibility in the mid-1980s that it might be sold to one of the major chains, a “Friends of the Phoenix” scheme was started. In 1990 the cinema was taken over by its current owners City Screen and in 1998 the front of the building was extensively remodelled. Its lease is owned by St. John's College. As for the pub beyond it, it was built in 1818 and was originally known as The Jericho House. More recently however, it has also been known The Jericho, The Philanderer and The Firkin. In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was an important part of the local and national music scene, spawning Ride, Radiohead and Supergrass.

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