Central Cinema
29 Abbey Road,
Torquay,
TQ2 5NQ
29 Abbey Road,
Torquay,
TQ2 5NQ
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The Theatre Royal opened in 1863. Projection equipment was installed in 1915 and films were added to the variety programme. In 1922, a full-time cinema licence was granted for twelve months. The last live show was held on the stage in November 1931 and the theatre went over to full time cinema use after being remodeled by architects Healy & Overbury of Cheltenham.
It re-opened on 27th March 1933 as a cinema named the Royal Theatre. The Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd. took control from 29th July 1935 and from 12th April 1937 it was re-named Odeon. There were 571 seats in the stalls and 312 in the circle.
In October 1973 it was closed for twinning, and re-opened on 24th March 1974 seating 360 in the former stalls and 309 in the former circle. The Rank Organisation closed the Odeon in November 1999.
It was taken over by the independent Merlin Cinemas chain and re-opened on 11th February 2000 as the Central Cinema. The dowstairs screen was tripled in 2001 and now has seating for 122, 78 and 42, with 308 seats in the former circle.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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The Central Cinema, photographed in March 2008:
http://flickr.com/photos/kokott/2366603685/
Three shots from it’s Odeon days here:–
1975 – View link
1986 – View link
1989 – View link
Here is another photo of the Odeon.
Another modern photo can be seen here.
This is another 2008 exterior view.