1930s Houghton. The bowler-hatted man with the walking cane is John “Jack” Lishman who built the Coliseum Cinema and Art-Deco styled grand picture palace on Newbottle Street. Lishman helped to transform Houghton’s Newbottle Street into a thriving shopping and entertainment centre in the early decades of the1900s.His original business, a drapery, furnishing and undertaking store, became Doggarts department store. Lishman and partner Norman Robinson opened the purpose-built, modern Coliseum opposite Doggarts on 3rd August 1921, designed by Newcastle architects Percy L. Browne and Glover. The art deco Grand was built on the site of the Old Gaiety Theatre, opening on 21st April 1930, here advertising American blackface radio comedians Amos ‘n’ Andy in their first film release.

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