Ritz Cinema
Queen Street,
Penzance,
TR18 4BJ
Queen Street,
Penzance,
TR18 4BJ
2 people
favorited this theater
The Ritz Cinema opened on 27th July 1936. It was designed by architect A.H. Jones and was originally planned by the independent owners of the Pavillion Cinema in the town. However, before it was completed it was taken over by the Union Cinemas Ltd. chain.
There is a decorative fin-sign over the entrance and the auditorium runs parallel to the street. The 1,000 seat capacity was all on a single floor. There were decorative grilles on each side of the 40 feet wide proscenium opening. The Ritz Cinema was equipped with a Compton 2Manual/4Rank organ which had an illuminated console located on a lift in the orchestra pit. It was opened by noted organist Reginald Foort. Union Cinemas were taken over by Associated British Cinemas(ABC) in October 1937.
The Ritz Cinema was taken over by Mecca Ltd. on 28th June 1965 and closed as a cinema on 17th July 1965. It was converted into a Mecca Bingo Club and remains in this use today as the Ritz Bingo Club.
In December 2006, plans were approved to demolish the building and construct housing on the site.
Contributed by
Lost Memory, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Exterior view of Ritz cinema and interior view taken sometime in the late 1930s.
This is the Ritz as a bingo hall.
Recent March 2008 photographs of the former Ritz Cinema as a bingo club:
http://flickr.com/photos/74784995@N00/2368998225/
http://flickr.com/photos/74784995@N00/2353391906/
http://flickr.com/photos/74784995@N00/2352561429/
Rear of the building:
http://flickr.com/photos/74784995@N00/740781943/
Close-up in July 2008:
http://flickr.com/photos/11763518@N00/2680691486/
There seems to be a campaign to save the ritz.since the summer of 2008
imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/images/2009/06/26/ritz_inside_203jpg_203x152.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/content/articles/2009/06/26/history_ritz_feature.shtml&usg=__Vs0t1hUuxUKDXFKqlBtWtMcwnTQ=&h=152&w=203&sz=15&hl=en&start=15&zoom=0&itbs=1&tbnid=Dq1fKYh_K9XzLM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dritz%2Bpenzance%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&ei=eyW0Td2rAYyCvgOC1NGcBw
There’s a brilliant website, with loads of pictures and information about the Ritz, here:
http://ritzpenzance.com/page1.html