Imperial Cinema
Darwall Street,
Walsall,
WS1 1DA
Darwall Street,
Walsall,
WS1 1DA
1 person
favorited this theater
Originally built as the Agricultural Hall in 1846, it was given a new facade and opened as St. George’s Hall in 1887. It became the Imperial Theatre in 1899. The Imperial Picture House opened on 1st January 1910, the frontage was altered to the plans of architect Archibald Hurley Robinson.
The Imperial Picture House was taken over by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) in 1936. Apart from the installation of sound and later CinemaScope, the building was never altered. The Imperial Cinema closed on 4th May 1968 with a double-bill programme; Stephen Boyd in “Assignment K” and Lee Marvin in “Cat Ballou”.
It was converted into an Alpha Bingo Club which opened on 23rd May 1969. The bingo club closed in around 1996, by then operated by Gala Bingo. It re-opened in March 1997 as ‘The Imperial’, one of the J. D. Wetherspoon chain of pubs.
Contributed by
Lost Memory, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
HI yet another correction The Hall opened in 1846. There is a myth that it was some form of Market Hall. This incorrect it was a Concert Hall come theatre from the very start.. My Family where shareholders in the old “Walsall Theatre Compay” They used to lease the Theatre and sold out to ABC…
This was my favourite cinema in the sixties. I thought it held 1,500 or so, but I may be wrong.It was the first full-time cinema in the town, having shown films part of the time since 1908; the towns first purpose-built cinema was the Palace ( oringinally Electric Picture Palace ) in the square.
The Imperial Seated 1021… May have lost 20 seats when the new act came out regarding the distance from the screen. Top of the screen cannot be more then 30% degrees higher the normal vision in the front row.. Being the first full-time built Cinema could be the Classic in Stafford street, Which Pat Collins had for a time. then passed to Clifton. I am looking at family papers to check…
Hello, Mike,The first purpose built cinema in Walsall was the (Electric) Palace in the Square which opened in April 1910. The Cinema de Luxe, later Classic, opened in 1912, I think. I can soon verify this, as I am researching the history of Walasll cinemas in my spare time.
Hi Keith You are correct… I live in Walsall and my family had interests in the Walsall Theatre Company known as WTC.. The Palace had a sign on the side of building “The Palace Electric Thatre” Home of Moving Talking Films… Hmm Giving my age away…
Mike, hello, the deLuxe opened in December 1912. There is an artists sketch of the Palace as originally built in the Wasall Advertiser of april !2 (I think) 1910 and a pretty building it was, with a single storey lobby surmounted by a dome and a statue of Electra! Apparently, in the first days, “singing pictures” were shown. Now, I know that various unsuccessful means of adding sound to pictures were around from long before 1927 and I wonder if this was one of them? During the switch over to sound, I have found an ad. in which the Palace boasts “real live people” will provide songe to accompany the fims. With your family connection to WTC, I wonder what other gems of information lie at your disposal? By the way, The Palace had closed before I came to live in Walsall and I only remember it as part of the Observer works. It closed when I was seven, so you can do the maths!
Some pictures of the the theater in its current role as a pub can be seen here, here, and here.
hi mike just a question for you im a manager for jd wetherspoons and i work in the imperial and im looking for some old pictures of inside of the imperial to put on display for the customers would you be able to help?? my email address is