Windsor Cinema

Built on the site of Vint’s Hippodrome which had been destroyed by a fire in April 1918. The Windsor Cinema opened on 25th May 1936 with Dick Powell in “Thanks a Million” It boasted a restaurant with a roof garden as one of its facilities. The building was noted as having a collection of excellent stained glass windows which were lit from within. It was operated by South Wales Cinemas Ltd and from March 1937 it was leased to the Union Cinemas chain which were taken over by Associated British Cinemas (ABC) in October 1937. However, South Wales Cinemas took back the lease from 1st October 1939 and operated it until it became part of the Jackson Withers circuit. They were taken over by the Rank Organisation in November 1976 and the Windsor Cinema was closed on 11th June 1977 with Walt Disney’s “101 Dalmations”.

The building was taken over by an independent operator and the stalls area was converted into a nightclub known as ‘Talk of the Abbey’ in 1979 with a 470 seat cinema operating in the former balcony. The cinema closed in August 1985 and re-opened again on 15th March 1991 with “Kindergarten Cop”, but this was a short lived ventured as it closed for good in December 1992. The nightclub continued in use for many more years, finally closing in Spring 2006 after which planning permission was granted to demolish the building for a housing development. The stained glass windows have been saved to be used in the new development.

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