Comet Cinema - Notes

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, May 9^th, 1939:
“LOCAL BUSINESS MEN TAKE OVER CONTROL OF COMPANY Three West Hartlepool business men have purchased the controlling interest in London company of decorators whose Northern headquarters are to be established here. The company is Benefaire Wall Finishes Ltd., and the control has been purchased by Mr. T. H. Pallor, Mr. Sydney Pearson, and Mr. D. Brown. While the headquarters, of the company will remain in Victoria Street, London S.W.1., workshops and offices are to be opened at the premises of Messrs. W. Pearson and Son, builders and contractors, Stranton, West Hartlepool, where eventually about 30 hands will be employed. The company have in hand contracts to the value of £12,000 and the first local contract to be received is for decorating the Comet Cinema, Hartlepool. Negotiations are also proceeding for work in connection with local schools and Hartlepool’s Hospital. Benefaire Wall Finish, the composition of which is secret, is for enamelling interior walls. The invention was made Holland, where It has been used for six or seven years.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, May 7^th, 1940:
“A FATHER’S COMPLAINT. Two other boys aged nine and ten were before the Bench on charges of doing damage to a water pipe on the site of the new Comet Cinema at Hartlepool There was a tap on the end of a length of piping, and was stated that the boys had worked it backwards and forwards until it broke and water gushed out in all directions. One defendant said “It came loose in my hand." A father complained that the tap was in the open and unprotected. It had already been leaking, and a pool of water at its base attracted children of all ages to it! No conviction was recorded, but each parent was ordered to pay 2s. 6d. damages. Ald. Davison was accompanied on the Bench by Mr. J. H. S. Allison, M.B.E."

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, November 6^th, 1948:
“HARTLEPOOL CINEMA MAY BE “DEMOBBED” It is understood that the Minister of Food has been persuaded Mr. D. T. Jones, M.P. for the Hartlepools, to relinquish Hartlepool’s latest, but never-opened, cinema, the Comet, in Cleveland Road. The question of the building opening in its original capacity was taken up some time ago by Mr. Jones, and his report will be read by the Town Clerk at the next Town Council meeting. The Comet was taken over by the Ministry early in World War II and has since been used as a storehouse for bulk food arriving in the Hartlepools. At present there are only two picture houses operating in Hartlepool, and additional facilities provided the Comet will be welcomed by the majority of townspeople. Visiting the 'Pools to-day to interview constituents, Mr. Jones was called upon to deal with a number of housing complaints. "Housing is pretty bad in Hartlepool" he declared, “but the authorities have done a very good job here and their record compares well with those in other parts of the country.”

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, January 19^th, 1951:
“Vacant possession. A suggestion in this column that since the Government ceased to use the Comet Cinema, Hartlepool, now for sale, as a wartime food store this had “left the rats and mice in undisputed possession” should not be taken seriously. The building is, in fact, of modern construction, and having concrete floors is, as Mr. G. A. Ward, Hartlepool's Sanitary Inspector puts it, “about as rat-proof as it could be.’’ Mr. Ward mentions that during its use as food store there was once a visitation of rats which was promptly and effectively dealt with by Ministry of Food officials.”

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