NEXT week, the first new cinema in Darlington for more than 75 years is to open. The Vue will become the town's second cinema – but once Darlington had eight purpose-built town centre cinemas plus another four venues – the Astoria, the Central Hall, the Hippodrome and the Drill Hall – that regularly showed films. At the start of the Second World War, the town was so cinema-crazy that it had more cinema seats per head of population than any other town in Britain – Memories' favourite useless fact of information.

But how many of them can you identify? Where did they stand?

If you can get all eight, you can then try for the bonus question: there was a ninth purpose-built cinema in the borough of Darlington (ie: outside the town centre but within the area covered by Darlington council). Where was it and what was its name?

It's a just-for-fun quiz, and we'll reveal the answers next week when Memories will be back to its usual shape and size with a main article on the cinemas of this cinema-mad town. In the meantime, if you have any memories of the golden age of the silver screen that you would like to share, please email them to chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk or write to Chris Lloyd, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF.