The Grand Theatre, Leeming Street, Mansfield
The Mansfield Borough Council received plans for a theatre to be built on the corner of Bath Street and Leeming Street on 4 July 1905. The theatre was designed by Mr Thomas V. Woodhouse, architect of Hound Road, West Bridgford. It was designed for the Mansfield Sutton and District Theatres Company, owned by Captain Cecil Clayton of Walthamstow, London. The project was conceived as a new opera house and prices on admission to the ‘New Grand Theatre’ were more expensive than those for the Hippodrome, which opened on Midworth Street during 1905. Upon completion, the stage was claimed to be the biggest in the country at 40 feet by 65 feet and 46 feet 
in height. The first performance took place on 17 September 1905.
In 1928 the Grand was revitalised with a new frontage, improved auditorium and enlarged stage. On 15 October 1928 the theatre enjoyed a grand reopening with a production of ‘Barbed Wire’, a lavish musical set in the First World War trenches, put on especially for the Mayor, Alderman T Smith and members of the Mansfield District Council.
As films were cheaper and more popular than live performances, the theatre finally gave in to popular demand and in early 1929, after a six month run, a cinema licence was taken out. The theatre was renamed the Grand Super Cinema. By 1930 Clayton had signed 
with the Associated British Cinemas Limited (ABC), as the best films were controlled by the big chains, although the name of the cinema was not changed until 1963. A new frontage followed in 1969. The cinema became the Canon in 1989 and finally closed on 27 November 1997, being replaced by a multiplex on Nottingham Road, Mansfield. The Grand Theatre is now used as a snooker and billiard hall.
