Historic Coventry cinema subject of bidding frenzy at property auction

[dutchman]

The former Brookville Picture House was one of the lots in the Loveitts May 2022 auction



A historic Coventry cinema building was the subject of a bidding frenzy when it went under the hammer at a property auction. The former Brookville Picture House, on the corner of Holbrook Lane and Jackson Road in Holbrooks, is now a mixed-use building comprising residential and commercial that includes the Karpet Kingdom store.

It was sold at the recent Loveitts property auction, in the first live, in-person auction organised by Loveitts since before Covid-19. The majority of properties sold considerably above their guide prices but the former Brookvale Picture House was the biggest sale of the night.

With bids starting at £520,000 the tenanted investment, which comprises a retail unit, warehouse, café and first and second-floor residential flats, and which generates more than £63,000 a year in rent, sold to a cheer when the hammer went down at £905,000 almost doubling its £500,000 - £550,000 guide price following a fierce bidding war.

The Brookville Picture House was opened on November 17, 1928. It was designed by architect J Bass of Bedworth.

Seating was provided in stalls and circle levels. The building also contained a refreshment room and a five-table billiard hall.

In November 1930 the refreshment room and billiard hall were converted into a dance hall. The Brookville Picture House was badly damaged in a German bombing raid during Easter 1941.

Only the front of the building remained standing. The owners reduced the height of the auditorium walls to a single storey and it was converted into a factory for Harry Weston.

After several other uses, it has been a Karpet Kingdom carpet shop since 1987.