It's a wonderful life for revived cinema with rare history

Mar 30 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

THE Tyneside Cinema has become of the region's best cultural venues, providing access to films and documentaries from across the globe. Christopher Knox talks to the man behind its recent transformation, chief executive Mark Dobson.

ON meeting Mark Dobson, it’s hard not to notice the enormous sense of pride and affection he has for the Tyneside. As both a fan of film and someone who is clearly passionate about the North East, he finds it hard to stop smiling as he looks back on his nine-year tenure.

Such pride is justified, as the once decaying cinema on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle’s city centre has now become a jewel in the region’s cultural crown, boasting three screens, a beautifully refurbished Tyneside Tea Rooms and a host of digital technology to take it firmly into the 21st century. The cinema, which has occupied the site since 1937, had by 1999 declined to a critical state, with many believing it would eventually be forced to close down.

And close down it did for 18 months, while one of the city’s most extensive and high-profile restoration projects got underway, one which would eventually give the cinema a new lease of life and ensure that it remained the place to be for movie buffs.

Although Dobson would be the first to say the redevelopment was a joint effort, it is also fair to say that his vision and passion for the new cinema more than played its part.

In fact, it was this passion that helped him to get the job as chief executive at the cinema in 1999 after only one senior role under his belt.

Dobson said: “The trustees of the Tyneside knew that the cinema needed a big change. Some areas of the building had become inhospitable and attendances were plummeting.

“It was the first time they had advertised for a chief executive and I think they saw me as somebody who had a fresh approach and who could help to diagnose their problems.”

Although Dobson came to the cinema’s rescue almost 10 years ago, his passion for cinema began long before that.

“My parents always loved films and they would take me to the cinema a lot when I was little,” he recalls.

“My dad was big into Westerns, which I also love. My mother loved Westerns as well, but unfortunately for me back then, she also loved musicals, which I hated, sadly, until after she passed away.

“Now I realise some of the best films are musicals.”

Dobson’s dad Bill was a carpenter from Elswick, Newcastle, while his mother Mary worked in a number of factories across the region, including De La Rue in Team Valley in her native Gateshead.

Dobson himself, an only child, was born just off Sunderland Road in Gateshead, where he lived until he was five and until the decline of traditional industry on Tyneside meant his dad’s work dried up.