 With a general decline in cinema audiences the cinema closed in the early 1950s then opened again.In 1959, to promote the showing of "The Big Hunt", a live elephant appeared outside the cinema.At some point after this, the Picture House briefly closed and became a bingo hall before reopening as a cinema again in 1962, after refurbishment and installation of new projectors, with a programme successfully catering to the growing student population in the area.