Serving the Teesside Business Community | 45
Bar owner Nicola Parsons serves
a pint of Guinness to Mandale
Group’s head of property
development Joe Darragh.
The historic Picture House building – dubbed “the
heart of Billingham” – sits on the corner of South
View and Mill Lane.
Nicola Parsons
launched her
micropub, the
Hog’s Head,
at The Picture
House 18
months ago.
“The restaurant is a fantastic
idea and I think it’ll be really good
for the area. We don’t have a lot
of restaurants here, it’s mainly
takeaways, so the idea of having
somewhere classy to sit down
and eat a nice meal sounds really
appealing to me and I know it has
got a lot of local people talking.”
Parsons also says it’s pleasing
that an important building with so
much history is being preserved.
“It’s the heart of Billingham,
everyone knows The Picture
House,” she said. “It has been a lot
of different things over the years
but it’s really nice to see it staying
open, and not being made into flats.
“The regulars love coming here
and some of them remember
coming here to watch films years
ago. The stories I’ve heard from our
regulars are brilliant. Some of them
have had a mooch around and recall
memories of coming here in their
younger
days, and
we have memorabilia up on the
walls so we never forget what this
place used to be and the place it
had in the community.
“Many pubs have closed in
Billingham over the years but we’re
seeing more open now so we’re
seeing local people doing the pub
crawls and staying local.
“This was definitely needed for
this area of Billingham.”
The Picture House was opened
in December 1928 and originally
had a 28-feet-wide proscenium. It
was equipped with CinemaScope
in 1955 and the proscenium was
widened to 35 feet. It was later
converted to a bingo hall before one
half of the building was converted
into a car dealership in the 1980s.
Enquiries can be made to Joe
Darragh on 07973 908599 or by
email to [email protected]
A plan shows how the new restaurant would complement the
already established retailers and micropub at The Picture House.