Plaza Cinema
32 Trinity Street,
Dorchester,
DT1 1TT
32 Trinity Street,
Dorchester,
DT1 1TT
3 people
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Ticket prices at this cinema have changed to £3.50 Weekdays and £4.50 weekends, and 8 “Lounge seats” have been added at the back of the largest screen, for £1 extra on the ticket price.
The current seating capacities are Screen 1 188 seats (first floor)
Screen 2 60 seats (first floor)
Screen 3 110 seats + 4 Wheelchair spaces (ground floor)
Screen 4 75 seats + 2 Wheelchair spaces (ground floor)
Incredibly cheap tickets here, £2.50 Monday to Friday and £3.50 weekends.
“A £500,000 revamp of an art deco-style independent cinema in Dorset has been completed.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-34834725
The Plaza now has 4 screens and shows live via satellite Opera, Ballet and Theatre. Recent Bond film, “Skyfall” has sold out almost every showing for 6 weeks.
Screen 4, the final addition to the cinema, is on its way….Also the Plaza is hoping to go fully digital by the end of 2011. Further more, the Plaza now has a fully lincensed bar and all 3 screens are licenced. Aswell as being on Facebook, the Plaza now have a blog, and a twitter page. PLaza babies – a weekly screening with the volume down and the lights up for parents with babies unser 18th months now showing every Wednesday.
3rd screen is now open at the Plaza
It is good that investment has gone into the Plaza. I hope it survives the competition from the Old Brewery site when it opens.
And yes, it is the NEC 2K DLP Digital projector that they are using for 3D – they have the XPAND 3D system (I visted the projection room recently – March 2010).
Only one of the 2 new screens is to open in the summer (fingers-crossed) – the 4th screen to follow. The bingo hall is all cleared out and ready to go however.
3D HAS ARRIVED IN DORCHESTER!!
The Plaza Now has the ability to show 3D films.
Upcoming 3D film ‘ALICE IN WONDERLAND IN 3D’ from 5 March.
They alredy had an NEC 2K DLP Digital Projector, but i am not sure if this is the projector that will be used for 3D. Probably, though, as this was the only Digital Projector which they had, i’m not sure if they have any more now.
They are currently beginning to build 2 new screens at the Plaza, in the long – disused bingo hall. Fingers-crossed they should open in the Summer, just before the new 3 screen ‘good quality’ cinema in Brewery Square (less than ½ mile away) will open its doors.
Photo taken in September 2009:
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The Plaza Cinema reopened as a twin screen cinema on 26 January 1975. The films shown were THE STING and the James Bond film, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN.
The Plaza was taken over in October last year by the same people who took over the running of the Picturedrome Cinema in Bognor Regis. A major restoration project is on the cards for the Plaza and according to the local press, the main screen has already been redecorated and fitted with brand new seating. Later in the year the foyer looks set to be given an overhaul and it is possible that a third screen will be added to the existing twin-screen cinema site in Trinity Street at some time in the future.
The Plaza cinema seems to have changed hands but I have not been able to find any news stories in the local press. The cinema is no longer listed on Reeltime’s (who have owned the Plaza since 1991) website but a new site has appeared advertising film showing times at the venue. The company calls itself The Picturedrome Electric Theatre Company Limited.
The Freehold on the Plaza cinema site has been put up for sale by the owners. However, the independent operating company has a lease on the building and has given assurances that the cinema will carry on showing films for at least another two years.
The development at the Old Brewery site in Dorchester includes plans for a brand new three-screen cinema with an outdoor screening area, which is due to be up and running within the next two years.
Up until 1957, the Plaza competed with another cinema in Dorchester, the Palace in Durngate Street. This cinema seated 400 patrons in stalls and circle and was presenting the town with film entertainment as early as 1911 when it was known as the Dorchester Electric Picturedrome. It was renamed as the Palace in 1920 when Mr Albany Ward acquired the site. Mr Ward owned several cinemas in Dorset including another Palace in the Easton district of Portland.
By the 1930’s, the Gaumont British Corporation took over the Dorchester Palace and they ran it until it finally closed on 6 May 1957. The final film starred Van Johnson in KELLY AND ME.