In the Cinema Theatre Association’s November/December 2021 ‘Bulletin’, Terry Hanstock reported that the Cinema was originally owned by Edwin Pearn, a local coal merchant. He had been born in 1888 and died in 1949, after which his widow Susan (presumably the Mrs S. B. Pearn mentioned in the Overview) and their son, Keith, continued to operate the Cinema.
By the time I visited, on Thursday 28th October 2021, the former Premier was being used by the locally-based St. Rocco’s Hospice. Donated items are stored before being sorted and taken out to the hospice’s network of fund-raising shops. By chance, one of the volunteers was delivering some items, and he kindly allowed me to take a look around. Fortunately, even though the building has been largely gutted, the cinema decoration on the ceiling and upper walls is still very evident and has been nicely picked out in gold. The building’s owner allows the hospice to use it on payment of a minimal rental.
The Bijou was founded by Michael Lockwood, a life-long film fan who had been very active in the North West, in particular with the Preston Cine Society. His dream of operating a cinema was finally realised when he acquired the building that eventually became the Bijou. Sadly, however, he passed away in January 2021 so, with the enforced closure during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he hardly saw his cherished project in action.
The Bijou is operated as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and staffed by a very enthusiastic band of volunteers. They made me very welcome when I visited, on Tuesday 26th October 2021, for a matinee screening of the silent horror classic “Nosferatu” (1921).
Material in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive contradicts the assertion in the Overview (repeated in the book ‘The Cinemas of West Wales’) that the Palace cinema re-opened after the Second World War and then closed around 1960.
A cutting from the ‘Pembroke County & West Wales Guardian’, dated 15th December 1978, reported that plans had been approved for “well-known Pembroke company” L. W. Haggar & Sons (which was running Haggars Cinema in Pembroke - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) to re-open the Palace, which had “closed shortly after the birth of the ‘talkies’ in the 1920s”, as a “cinema and bingo hall”. Which implies that the Palace had not operated as a cinema after the Second World War (supporting this assertion is that it was not listed in the post-war Kinematograph Year Books).
The impetus behind this scheme was to provide the residents of Pembroke Dock with ‘big screen’ entertainment, which they had been denied since the closure of the Grand Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry - in 1974.
It is not known when the Palace Cinema re-opened, but it was certainly showing films by March 1980, as the Archive holds a programme booklet for that month, a ‘joint booklet’ which also provides details of the shows at Haggars Cinema. The Archive holds (intermittent) booklets up to June 1982, and, sadly, the Palace does not appear to have survived much longer, as its final entry in the BFI Film and Television Handbook was in 1983.
The Handbook listed 460 seats. It is not known how many seats there were in the early years, so it is not known whether this was, for example, a circle-only cinema operation, with bingo in the stalls. However, it seems much more likely that bingo - at some stage, if not all the time, operated by Top Ten Bingo - followed the cessation of the film shows.
(Incidentally, the newspaper cutting refers to the Palace Cinema as being on Park Street, as opposed to Queen Street as in this entry. However, Park Street runs at right angles to Queen Street and, while the main cinema entrance does appear to have been on Queen Street, this was very narrow, and there is also access to the side of the auditorium from Park Street.)
The Conway cinema building began life in 1880 as a ladies' swimming pool (the gents' pool was next door, in what was to become the Celtic Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry). At this time the road was called Newfoundland Street, as the buildings were constructed on ‘newly-found’ land. However, the baths became so important that the road was renamed Bath Street. Mixed bathing was allowed after the First World War, when the gents' pool was closed and converted into the Imperial Cinema (later the Celtic). After the Second World War the surviving pool was covered over and the building was converted into the Little Theatre, and became home to the Regency Players. Then, in 1962, David Davies converted it into the Conway Cinema. That closed on or around 28th May 1976, so it didn’t run for very long as a ‘second screen’ to the Commodore.
The Commodore opened on 17th May 1976 with “The Man Who Would be King”, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Having acquired the adjacent Conway Cinema (see separate Cinema Treasures entry), David Davies, owner of the Commodore, had plans drawn up to demolish it and replace it with a second screen for the Commodore, which would seat 350. Unfortunately, he was never able to proceed with this further development.
As a correction to my Overview, according to a letter from Tim Partner, Chief Executive of Arrow Multiplexes Ltd, held in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Arrow cinema opened in December 1997. And a press cutting reported that it closed on Friday 30th June 2000. It transpired that Arrow had forecast higher admissions than had been achieved, and they were unable to pay the rent, even with the landlord, Allied London and Scottish Properties plc, after some negotiation, accepting a reduced level of rent. (Arrow said they had been promised that a bowling alley and theme pub would be built on the site, which would attract further potential patrons.) Eventually, the landlord decided to sell the site.
Contrary to the date of 2001 I gave in the Overview, cuttings in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive report that the Wyllyotts Centre’s first film shows were back in September 1991. So the Centre had clearly opened well before 2001.
According to a press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Regal closed on Thursday 27th November 2003. Presumably both screens were operating on that final day, but “Calendar Girls”, starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, was said to be “the final film”. 22 houses, plus six flats and maisonettes, were due to be built on the site. Perhaps indicative of many situations when cinemas close down, one 32 year old member of that last night audience, who lived in the town, said “It’s a throwback to what I remember as a kid. It’s a great shame it’s closing” - before admitting this was his first visit!
According to a press cutting, dated 10th March 1978, in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, local businessman Joe Wray had bought the cinema building 12 years previously. He was in the DIY trade, and, having used it for storage, he had now invested several thousand pounds into converting it into the Corona Club, a youth club and community centre. It had only been open one week, but membership had already reached 150, and it was expected to grow to around 500. There were pool tables, a juke box, a 50ft long bar (selling shandies) and pinball machines.
Joe had plans to add further attractions but then, on 24th March, just two weeks later, the Evening News reported that theft, vandalism and violence had closed the club down. On 23rd March police had to be called in to sort out trouble at the club, which was packed with teenagers, many of whom were running riot, vandalising pool tables, stealing bottles of drink and picking fights. Older youths also threatened Joe Wray, who said he had had enough and he was closing the club down.
The building was subsequently taken over by Cohens Chemists. However, by 2016, that had relocated to new premises just around the corner, on Market Street, and this building had been demolished and replaced by housing.
I am pretty certain that Ian is correct, that this cinema was never the Dovecot Arts Centre - although, rather confusingly, it does appear to have been regarded as an “arts centre” in its final years. A cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, from 1995, about the Dovecot Arts Centre’s impending move to its current premises, mentions that it opened in 1971, presumably at Dovecot Street.
According to a very brief press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, after closure as a cinema in April 1962 the Windsor opened as a full-time bingo club, with seating for 550 patrons. The cutting does not say when the club closed.
According to a 1971 press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, this cinema only operated from 1924-25. The building was originally at 75 Chapel Street, before the road was renamed. In 1971 it was in use as a workshop by Smalls the builders. By September 2020 it had been converted to residential use, but it is still recognisable as a former place of worship: it is even called “The Old Chapel”!
The handbill (see photos) dates from May 1914, and a cutting from the [Harrow] Observer records that the Picturedrome did, indeed, close in 1914, not 1913. After the First World War it was converted into a second-hand furniture shop run by Harrow-based Biggs and Company. In 1928 Arthur Adams and Sons Furnishers took over and, since then, it was known as the Adams Building. The cutting is dated 1st August 1985, and records the demolition of the building, which had been “in a state of disrepair for the last year and even had a dangerous structures order slapped on it by Harrow Council’s engineering department”.
In May 2017, five months after his death, Screen 1 was renamed the Sir John Hurt Cinema. The Derbyshire-born actor had been a patron at QUAD. And Screen 2 is now RDS Cinema, in recognition of one of QUAD’s sponsors, Responsive Digital Solutions.
Cinema Theatre Association member Audie Phillip visited Gravesend in September 2020, and found that the building was occupied by Dental Care Centre (at the front) and NRG gym (at the rear).
The entire ‘leisure terrace’, including the Cineworld, was evacuated and closed at 1pm on Sunday 9th February 2020 when Storm Ciara resulted in some of the exterior cladding being pulled loose. The cinema subsequently lost out on lucrative half-term custom but, following remedial work, it was able to re-open at 2pm on Tuesday 3rd March.
I visited the Odeon Luxe & Dine on Tuesday 4th February 2020, and saw the satirical black comedy drama"Jojo Rabbit" in Screen 5. It is an interesting concept, perhaps influenced by the success of the USA’s Alamo Drafthouse cinemas, which are specifically designed to encourage patrons to have a meal while watching the film.
Having been made very welcome by a member of staff, who showed me around, I ordered my Wagyu Beef Burger at 1.45pm and settled down for the 2pm screening. The ads and trailers ended at 2.15pm, and the film started, but the food wasn’t delivered until 2.30pm. This appeared to allow everyone to be served at the same time, but it was a little distracting having the waiter bustling about while the film was under way. (Interestingly, there were about 15 patrons, and, from what I could see, we all had something to eat, so the concept is clearly a winner – though eating isn’t compulsory!) And, I have to say, once the waiter had finished, it was quite nice to tuck into a rather tasty burger while enjoying the film! (I should add that I suppose it should be: I also had a small diet Coke, and the food & drink bill came to £18.15 – which I was surprised to discover included a Service Charge of £1.65!)
The watchword for this cinema is, of course, state-of-the-art luxury. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see a large ‘traditional-style’ “ODEON” clock in the downstairs entrance, and, on the stairs, an equally large plaque commemorating circuit founder Oscar Deutsch. These were lovely ‘heritage’ touches in an otherwise utterly modern cinema.
The Nob Hill Theatre is also seen in “The Lineup” (1958), with “An Affair to Remember” and “Twelve Angry Men” advertised on the canopy.
In the Cinema Theatre Association’s November/December 2021 ‘Bulletin’, Terry Hanstock reported that the Cinema was originally owned by Edwin Pearn, a local coal merchant. He had been born in 1888 and died in 1949, after which his widow Susan (presumably the Mrs S. B. Pearn mentioned in the Overview) and their son, Keith, continued to operate the Cinema.
By the time I visited, on Thursday 28th October 2021, the former Premier was being used by the locally-based St. Rocco’s Hospice. Donated items are stored before being sorted and taken out to the hospice’s network of fund-raising shops. By chance, one of the volunteers was delivering some items, and he kindly allowed me to take a look around. Fortunately, even though the building has been largely gutted, the cinema decoration on the ceiling and upper walls is still very evident and has been nicely picked out in gold. The building’s owner allows the hospice to use it on payment of a minimal rental.
The Bijou was founded by Michael Lockwood, a life-long film fan who had been very active in the North West, in particular with the Preston Cine Society. His dream of operating a cinema was finally realised when he acquired the building that eventually became the Bijou. Sadly, however, he passed away in January 2021 so, with the enforced closure during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he hardly saw his cherished project in action.
The Bijou is operated as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and staffed by a very enthusiastic band of volunteers. They made me very welcome when I visited, on Tuesday 26th October 2021, for a matinee screening of the silent horror classic “Nosferatu” (1921).
Material in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive contradicts the assertion in the Overview (repeated in the book ‘The Cinemas of West Wales’) that the Palace cinema re-opened after the Second World War and then closed around 1960.
A cutting from the ‘Pembroke County & West Wales Guardian’, dated 15th December 1978, reported that plans had been approved for “well-known Pembroke company” L. W. Haggar & Sons (which was running Haggars Cinema in Pembroke - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) to re-open the Palace, which had “closed shortly after the birth of the ‘talkies’ in the 1920s”, as a “cinema and bingo hall”. Which implies that the Palace had not operated as a cinema after the Second World War (supporting this assertion is that it was not listed in the post-war Kinematograph Year Books).
The impetus behind this scheme was to provide the residents of Pembroke Dock with ‘big screen’ entertainment, which they had been denied since the closure of the Grand Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry - in 1974.
It is not known when the Palace Cinema re-opened, but it was certainly showing films by March 1980, as the Archive holds a programme booklet for that month, a ‘joint booklet’ which also provides details of the shows at Haggars Cinema. The Archive holds (intermittent) booklets up to June 1982, and, sadly, the Palace does not appear to have survived much longer, as its final entry in the BFI Film and Television Handbook was in 1983.
The Handbook listed 460 seats. It is not known how many seats there were in the early years, so it is not known whether this was, for example, a circle-only cinema operation, with bingo in the stalls. However, it seems much more likely that bingo - at some stage, if not all the time, operated by Top Ten Bingo - followed the cessation of the film shows.
(Incidentally, the newspaper cutting refers to the Palace Cinema as being on Park Street, as opposed to Queen Street as in this entry. However, Park Street runs at right angles to Queen Street and, while the main cinema entrance does appear to have been on Queen Street, this was very narrow, and there is also access to the side of the auditorium from Park Street.)
The Conway cinema building began life in 1880 as a ladies' swimming pool (the gents' pool was next door, in what was to become the Celtic Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry). At this time the road was called Newfoundland Street, as the buildings were constructed on ‘newly-found’ land. However, the baths became so important that the road was renamed Bath Street. Mixed bathing was allowed after the First World War, when the gents' pool was closed and converted into the Imperial Cinema (later the Celtic). After the Second World War the surviving pool was covered over and the building was converted into the Little Theatre, and became home to the Regency Players. Then, in 1962, David Davies converted it into the Conway Cinema. That closed on or around 28th May 1976, so it didn’t run for very long as a ‘second screen’ to the Commodore.
The Commodore opened on 17th May 1976 with “The Man Who Would be King”, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Having acquired the adjacent Conway Cinema (see separate Cinema Treasures entry), David Davies, owner of the Commodore, had plans drawn up to demolish it and replace it with a second screen for the Commodore, which would seat 350. Unfortunately, he was never able to proceed with this further development.
The Celtic Cinema closed on 24th March 1975 with the Dracula spoof “Vampira”, starring David Niven.
As a correction to my Overview, according to a letter from Tim Partner, Chief Executive of Arrow Multiplexes Ltd, held in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Arrow cinema opened in December 1997. And a press cutting reported that it closed on Friday 30th June 2000. It transpired that Arrow had forecast higher admissions than had been achieved, and they were unable to pay the rent, even with the landlord, Allied London and Scottish Properties plc, after some negotiation, accepting a reduced level of rent. (Arrow said they had been promised that a bowling alley and theme pub would be built on the site, which would attract further potential patrons.) Eventually, the landlord decided to sell the site.
The Fair World Film Centre closed on Sunday 5th September 1993. One of the final films was “Cliffhanger”, starring Sylvester Stallone.
According to information in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Regal closed on 5th July 1975.
Contrary to the date of 2001 I gave in the Overview, cuttings in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive report that the Wyllyotts Centre’s first film shows were back in September 1991. So the Centre had clearly opened well before 2001.
Further to the Overview, the 2003 photograph from the Cinema Theatre Association Archive shows the building being occupied by a laundry.
According to a press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Regal closed on Thursday 27th November 2003. Presumably both screens were operating on that final day, but “Calendar Girls”, starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, was said to be “the final film”. 22 houses, plus six flats and maisonettes, were due to be built on the site. Perhaps indicative of many situations when cinemas close down, one 32 year old member of that last night audience, who lived in the town, said “It’s a throwback to what I remember as a kid. It’s a great shame it’s closing” - before admitting this was his first visit!
According to a press cutting, dated 10th March 1978, in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, local businessman Joe Wray had bought the cinema building 12 years previously. He was in the DIY trade, and, having used it for storage, he had now invested several thousand pounds into converting it into the Corona Club, a youth club and community centre. It had only been open one week, but membership had already reached 150, and it was expected to grow to around 500. There were pool tables, a juke box, a 50ft long bar (selling shandies) and pinball machines.
Joe had plans to add further attractions but then, on 24th March, just two weeks later, the Evening News reported that theft, vandalism and violence had closed the club down. On 23rd March police had to be called in to sort out trouble at the club, which was packed with teenagers, many of whom were running riot, vandalising pool tables, stealing bottles of drink and picking fights. Older youths also threatened Joe Wray, who said he had had enough and he was closing the club down.
The building was subsequently taken over by Cohens Chemists. However, by 2016, that had relocated to new premises just around the corner, on Market Street, and this building had been demolished and replaced by housing.
I am pretty certain that Ian is correct, that this cinema was never the Dovecot Arts Centre - although, rather confusingly, it does appear to have been regarded as an “arts centre” in its final years. A cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, from 1995, about the Dovecot Arts Centre’s impending move to its current premises, mentions that it opened in 1971, presumably at Dovecot Street.
According to a very brief press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, after closure as a cinema in April 1962 the Windsor opened as a full-time bingo club, with seating for 550 patrons. The cutting does not say when the club closed.
According to a 1971 press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, this cinema only operated from 1924-25. The building was originally at 75 Chapel Street, before the road was renamed. In 1971 it was in use as a workshop by Smalls the builders. By September 2020 it had been converted to residential use, but it is still recognisable as a former place of worship: it is even called “The Old Chapel”!
The photographs from the Cinema Theatre Association Archive only add to the confusion! Perhaps the ‘original’ photograph is the rear of the building?
The handbill (see photos) dates from May 1914, and a cutting from the [Harrow] Observer records that the Picturedrome did, indeed, close in 1914, not 1913. After the First World War it was converted into a second-hand furniture shop run by Harrow-based Biggs and Company. In 1928 Arthur Adams and Sons Furnishers took over and, since then, it was known as the Adams Building. The cutting is dated 1st August 1985, and records the demolition of the building, which had been “in a state of disrepair for the last year and even had a dangerous structures order slapped on it by Harrow Council’s engineering department”.
In May 2017, five months after his death, Screen 1 was renamed the Sir John Hurt Cinema. The Derbyshire-born actor had been a patron at QUAD. And Screen 2 is now RDS Cinema, in recognition of one of QUAD’s sponsors, Responsive Digital Solutions.
Cinema Theatre Association member Audie Phillip visited Gravesend in September 2020, and found that the building was occupied by Dental Care Centre (at the front) and NRG gym (at the rear).
The entire ‘leisure terrace’, including the Cineworld, was evacuated and closed at 1pm on Sunday 9th February 2020 when Storm Ciara resulted in some of the exterior cladding being pulled loose. The cinema subsequently lost out on lucrative half-term custom but, following remedial work, it was able to re-open at 2pm on Tuesday 3rd March.
I visited the Odeon Luxe & Dine on Tuesday 4th February 2020, and saw the satirical black comedy drama"Jojo Rabbit" in Screen 5. It is an interesting concept, perhaps influenced by the success of the USA’s Alamo Drafthouse cinemas, which are specifically designed to encourage patrons to have a meal while watching the film.
Having been made very welcome by a member of staff, who showed me around, I ordered my Wagyu Beef Burger at 1.45pm and settled down for the 2pm screening. The ads and trailers ended at 2.15pm, and the film started, but the food wasn’t delivered until 2.30pm. This appeared to allow everyone to be served at the same time, but it was a little distracting having the waiter bustling about while the film was under way. (Interestingly, there were about 15 patrons, and, from what I could see, we all had something to eat, so the concept is clearly a winner – though eating isn’t compulsory!) And, I have to say, once the waiter had finished, it was quite nice to tuck into a rather tasty burger while enjoying the film! (I should add that I suppose it should be: I also had a small diet Coke, and the food & drink bill came to £18.15 – which I was surprised to discover included a Service Charge of £1.65!)
The watchword for this cinema is, of course, state-of-the-art luxury. So I was very pleasantly surprised to see a large ‘traditional-style’ “ODEON” clock in the downstairs entrance, and, on the stairs, an equally large plaque commemorating circuit founder Oscar Deutsch. These were lovely ‘heritage’ touches in an otherwise utterly modern cinema.
The postcard view confirms the entrance to the Castle was the white frontage to the left of the Boots store.