Rex Cinema
14 West Street,
Wareham,
BH20 4JX
14 West Street,
Wareham,
BH20 4JX
1 person
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Very small (150 seats, originally 270), cosy – located on the upper floor of the 1889 built Oddfellows Hall it was screening films in early years and became a full time cinema, known as the Empire Cinema in 1920. It is the only gas lit cinema remaining in Britain. Kept alive by an enthusiastic support group, nevertheless it continues to show popular films rather than turn into a film club.
Contributed by
Nick Semmens
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Here is a recent photo of the Rex Cinema.
This is a 2008 photo.
The group of nine volunteer directors who have been running the Rex since the original owner retired in 1987 have put this historic cinema up for sale. However, a covenant has been placed on the site stating that whoever buys it will have to keep it operating as a cinema.
I was formerly employed as a Projectionist at this cinema. When I started it was equipped with a pair of Gaumont Kalee-18 projectors with the old carbon-arc lamps but these were subsequently replaced by Xenon-arcs, which allowed for a better picture quality. In March 2002 the Kalee’s were replaced by two Ernemann 12’s. The Kalee’s held 2,000 ft reels that meant reel-to-reel changeovers every twenty minutes but the Ernemann projectors held 6,000 ft spools and this reduced the number of changeovers to one an hour.