• Location
  
• The Building
  
• Interior
  
• The Opening
  
• Closure
  
• Later Use
  

Location
On the south side of Fair Road where the building runs lengthways and parallel to the main road and behind a row of single storey shop units and close to the busy Wibsey tramcar terminus.

The Building
A purpose-built single storey auditorium of stone with pitched slate roof. The narrow arched entrance, also stone with pitched slate roof, projects outwards between the shops to the pavement. The shops included National Provincial Bank, Wright Hudson chemists, Alwyn ladies outfitter, a sweets and tobacco shop and O.S. Wain ('Ossie Wain') gents outfitter of city centre fame.

Built and owned by Lambert Cansfield trading as Marshfield Cinema Company Ltd and designed as a 'Talkie' cinema. Cansfield's were also involved with the Oxford at Undercliffe, the Carlton in Manchester Road and several Leeds suburban cinemas.

Interior
The single-deck raked auditorium was fan shaped and steeply narrowing towards the front at the western end. Usual design of barrel-vaulted ceiling and curtained side windows.

Seating was theatre style with curved rows and arranged in two blocks with centre aisle and two side aisles. The widest row (three-quarters of the way back) had 48 seats and the narrowest front row only 20 seats and 22 feet from the screen. An unusual rear left-hand side alcove had 56 seats. Total seating capacity was 752.

The proscenium opening of 25 feet with tabs and a depth of 20 feet with two dressing rooms for the occasional variety act though these were few in number with the rising popularity of new 'talkie' films. The small projection room housed two projectors equipped with the Western Electric sound set.

The Opening
Lambert Cansfield opened his new Cosy cinema on Thursday 15th May 1930 with . . .

"The Last of Mrs Cheyney" - 1929 USA B/w 94mins.
Starring Norma Shearer, Basil Rathbone and George Barraud.
A Super Talkie.

In 1945 the Cosy was licensed for 750 seats though KYB records show 761.
By 1950 prices had risen to 6d to 1/9d.

CinemaScope was installed in 1955 but not the accompanying stereophonic sound.

Closure
The Cosy operated under the same Cansfield's ownership for just over 30 years and closed on Saturday 4th March 1961 with . . .

"Doctor in Love" - 1960 GB Eastmancolor 97mins.
Starring Michael Craig, Virginia Maskell and Leslie Phillips.

Later Use
The former cinema was purchased by the Co-operative Society and, after levelling the raked floor, was converted into a supermarket. By 1980 the entire building and the parade of shops were all demolished and a new Co-op Food Fair supermarket was built plus an adjoining car park and still operates in 2010.