Penistone Paramount cinema: The Yorkshire cinema where you can still buy an ice cream during an intermission

But for the Penistone Paramount in its 110th anniversary year, there is much that has stayed the same. It has always developed, said general manager Brian Barnsley, and never stood still. But underneath, it always harks back to that treasured heritage.

He said: "We started scratching back the paint in Covid and, quite remarkably, it was the same colour underneath. It hasn't changed. The decor is pretty much how it was when it opened."

Cinema was a bold new idea in 1914 and the popularity of film was getting bigger and bigger. Today, the anniversaries come thick and fast, particularly for silent film.

Sometimes, said Mr Barnsley, audiences can be bigger for movies from a century ago. Others, such as It's a Wonderful Life, can still draw a hearty crowd.

Today, Penistone Paramount is a commercial cinema. It is also a community enterprise, within a town council, which is quite unusual. It's just finished the pantomime. Then there are organ shows, the cinema, stage theatre, bands. They have had a ballet.

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Initially the plot here was for a public library, funded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. That in turn led to the development of a town hall - and attached to that was an assembly hall for small stage productions, public meetings and dances. Still, to this day, it has the sprung floor which dates back to 1914.

"The trouble was," said Mr Barnsley. "By the time it opened in November 1914 we were at war with Germany. It became a bit of a white elephant."

For a spell here, the building's history becomes hazy. A gentleman - who may have hailed from Huddersfield or Manchester - approached the council to take it on as a cinema. With £500, a "king's ransom" for the age, he fitted it out with its own projection room, and he was to run it for decades as a concession for the local council.

It wasn't always easy going. There were times when it only opened at weekends, or for less than a handful of showings each week. But critically it did stay open, said Mr Barnsley.

By 1974, with changes to local government, its future was thrown into doubt when its district council owners were disbanded. Ownership passed to Barnsley Council, and "all hell broke loose" with proposals to close. For the past 30 years, it has been operated by Penistone Town Council.

Once plush benches that would have folded away for tea dances in the wartime years have now been replaced with heritage theatre-style seating. It's still red.

And while the cinema world can be "quite bonkers" at the moment, conceded Mr Barnsley, describing streaming as "the biggest threat since the invention of television", for Penistone Paramount, there is a real sense of community support.

"People feel as if it's 'their' cinema," said Mr Barnsley. "They care about it. That's the key to it. And live events, rather than cinema alone."