Ritz Cinema
7 St Mark's Hill,
Surbiton,
KT6 4PJ
7 St Mark's Hill,
Surbiton,
KT6 4PJ
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Additional Info
Functions: Bar
Styles: Neo-Classical
Previous Names: Coronation Hall, Coronation Cinema, Roxy Cinema
Nearby Theaters
Located in Surbiton, in the south of today’s Greater London. The Coronation Hall opened as a purpose-built cinema on 21st June 1911. The facade has a central pediment, with a round window below, which is framed by a decorative feature. It is flanked on each side by an octagonal tower feature.
Inside the foyer there was paneled oak on the walls, and the auditorium was decorated with floral motifs on fibrous plaster in bold relief on the beams of the barrel-vaulted ceiling. In 1912, a cafe was added to the facilities at the cinema. It became the Coronation Cinema in 1919.
It was re-named Roxy Cinema in 1947, then became the Ritz Cinema in 1955. The Ritz Cinema, together with the still operating cafe, was closed on 17th May 1966 with Sandra Dee in "I’d Rather Be Rich" and Cary Grant in "Operation Petticoat".
It was converted into an independent bingo club, which operated for the following 27 years. In 1993, it was converted into a naturist (nudist) health club, which operated until 1996. The pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon took over in 1997, and converted it into one of their pubs, opening on 18th September 1997 as the Coronation Hall.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
In 1989 I removed the projectors and one, fully restored, is in regular use in my garage cinema. It consists of a Ross GC1 mech, an RCA LMI9031 soundhead and a Peerless Magnarc lamp.
A little info about its bingo days and some pics here.
View link
Credit to Kevin Wheelan. Above links to his pics.
You have one of those in your garage? Nice…
Yes, I rebuilt one projector and have kept the other for spares. My second machine came from the Premier, Enfield, which is also featured on Cinema Treasures. Unfortunately, this site is not accepting pictures, but if anyone is interested in seeing photos of my garage cinema, please email me on .co.uk Likewise if you are in the area (I am near Esher, Surbiton and Kingston) and would like to come for a show, just email me.
Your Garage Cinema must have one heck of a bright picture,Kevin.
I have converted the arc lamp to take a 36volt 11 amp halogen bulb. I did so by fixing the lamp holder to the front carbon guide, so that I can use the original arc mirror, periscope and arc alignment card, and I even have carbons in place. Now that my son has left home and I have his bedroom, which overlooks the back garden, I intend to have a couple of projectors (I have several more vintage machines waiting to be reassembled) pointing into the garden for outdoor shows. I will then be running carbon arcs. I have a couple of single phase mercury rectifiers.
I must go and take a look at this place – I worked around the corner from 1973-76, but never got the chance to go inside.
I played bingo there in the 6 months leading up to closure. The Manageress tried very hard to keep it open, but dwindling numbers (there were two nationals in Kingston, Top Rank and Coral, to compete against) and rising costs forced closure. On one night near the end I remember donating a case of bubbly to supplement the prizes as there was so little prize money! Shame, as it was a friendly club.
does anyone remember staff at this cinema as my mum and a Tom Bradbury were the projectionists around 1948-51. would be interesting to hear
Hi davbrad. Do you have any photos of your mum or Tom Bradbury at the Roxy? If so, I would love to see them. The projectors, one of which is now fully restored and in regular use in my garage cinema, were installed in 1947, so I am running a machine that your mum and Tom Bradbury worked on all those years ago. If you send me your email address, I can email you some photos of the machines in the Roxy/Ritz before I removed them and of the one in my cinema. And, if you are ever in the area (I live a couple of miles from Surbiton in Hinchley Wood), you are VERY welcome to visit for a show. You can even operate the projector your mum worked on. My private email is .co.uk (For some reason, this site does not like the .co.uk, so you will need to type the whole address and not just click on the link)