Local newsreel cameraman Owen Brooks leased the garage with his friend George Reginald 'Reg' Smith and the two converted the building into a cinema, which opened as 'Headingley Picture House' on Monday, 29 July 1912.

Under Northern Morris's ownership, Cottage Road celebrated its 100th birthday on 29 July 2012, with a Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque being unveiled by screenwriter Kay Mellor.

[4][5][6] Pioneering Leeds-born newsreel cameraman Owen Brooks rented the garage several years later and, in partnership with his friend and fellow motoring enthusiast George Reginald 'Reg' Smith, converted it into a cinema.

[4][5] Two years later Brooks left the business and, following a one-week closure in 1931 to install sound equipment at the end of the silent film era,[Note 1] Headingley Picture House was purchased in 1937 by entrepreneur Frank T.

[6] By 2005 Cottage Road's fortunes had waned and Associated Tower, who disposed of Headingley's other historic cinema, The Lounge, in January of that year, announced that the venue would close on 28 July, one day shy of its 93rd birthday.

[13] In 2008 the cinema received a National Lottery grant from the UK Film Council for roof repairs[14] and, on 29 July 2012, a Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque was unveiled by Leeds-born screenwriter Kay Mellor to commemorate its 100th anniversary.

[1] Local poet Linda Marshall gave a special tribute entitled "Havoc In Far Headingley" after the plaque was unveiled, before the 1957 comedy The Smallest Show on Earth was shown.