Palace Picture Theatre

Located in the southeast London district of Woolwich, next to Woolwich Arsenal Railway Station, this was the first permanent cinema in the district. It was situated on the first floor of the Duke of Connaught Coffee Tavern, an imposing building which stood on the corner of Woolwich New Road and Vincent Road. The tavern was named after Queen Victoria’s third son Arthur, lieutenant in the Royal Artillery who was based for a time in Woolwich. He laid the foundation stone on 6th November 1880 and it opened the following year. It was designed by Plumstead based architect William Rickwood for the Woolwich and Plumstead Coffee Taverns Company and consisted of a club room in the basement (used as a billiard hall from 1914) a coffee tavern with a ladies' refreshment room, board room and offices on the ground floor and a large public hall (capacity 1,000) known as the Royal Assembly Rooms. This was converted into a music hall in 1892, operating until November 1902.

It was converted into a cinema, which was opened on 7th September 1906 by the Royal Animated Picture Company. It showed a twice nightly programme of films, but was soon succeeded by Matthew Feakes' Raymond’s Animated Picture Company.

After a brief closure in 1908 it was re-opened by N.S. Nesbitt as the Palace Picture Theatre, featuring ‘Nesbitt’s Ladies Band’. Following closure in September 1921, the Palace was acquired by local businessman and councillor Simon Huff, who carried out various alterations and redecorations and it re-opened on 7th March 1922.

It was the last cinema in Woolwich to install sound equipment when a British Thomson-Houston( BTH) sound system was installed. The first talkie to be screened was Leslie Fuller & Mona Goya in “Not So Quiet on the Western Front” It was still operated by Nesbitt’s Animated Pictures Ltd., and was a second run local cinema, playing mainly ‘B’ pictures. The Palace Picture Theatre was closed in the early 1940’s during World War II.

The Palace Picture Theatre was still listed as (Closed) in the 1947 edition of Kinematograph Year Book, although in 1946 the entire building was acquired by Temperance Billiard Halls Ltd., who divided the ground floor offices into a number of shop units, one of which was a snack bar. In October 1946 former champion dancer Henry Jacques re-opened the former cinema as a ballroom. In 1952 this was taken over by Harry Kaye and operated as the Ritz Ballroom until it was damaged by fire. After repairs and redecoration, the hall re-opened on 8th December 1962 as the Star Ballroom, with a personal appearance by singer Eden Kane. After a further closure it reopened under new management, reverting to the Ritz name in February 1964.

In 1969 the hall was converted into a roller skating rink. At some stage, it was converted again, this time into the Lucky Strike Bingo & Social Club. In 1981, this relocated to nearby premises. Other business’s also relocated and, despite a spirited campaign by action group ‘Save Woolwich Now’, the (un-listed) building was demolished in April 1983. The site has since been re-developed.

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