From 1947 it was based in Rusholme, a suburb of Manchester, and produced a number of comedy films, mostly aimed at audiences in the North of England.

From property records at HM Land Registry, on 17 June 1933 Blakeley's Productions Limited, 148 Slade Lane, Levenshulme in Manchester bought Hulme Hippodrome for £17,900, selling it on 23 December 1935.

Whenever the filmmakers wanted to shoot a scene, they would first have to signal the mechanics below to stop working, so the noise from below wouldn't register on the soundtracks.

Despite the limitations, the debut film was a huge success in the regions, recouping Blakeley's investment several times over and launching George Formby as Britain's leading screen comedian.

[2] The buildings were converted at a cost of £70,000 in 1947,[5] with funding from the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC), which provided grants to support independent British studios.

[6] Beginning with Cup-tie Honeymoon (1948) starring Sandy Powell, over the next six years the films went on to feature northern favourites Frank Randle, Josef Locke, Diana Dors, and Jimmy Clitheroe.

This created a funding crisis for the studio, but Blakeley managed to raise the necessary monies from profits on his movies and by hiring out the facilities at Dickenson Road to other production companies such as Hammer Horror for filming B-movies.