Rivoli Picture House
81 Station Avenue,
Sandown,
PO36 8HB
81 Station Avenue,
Sandown,
PO36 8HB
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Nearby Theaters
Located in Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Originally constructed as an Oddfellows Hall in the late-19th Century. Converted to a cinema, opening on 17th March 1921 with “His Majesty The King”. Seating was for 500 (400 in the stalls, 100 in the circle). A new facade was added to the building in January 1937.
Full time Bingo replaced films in 1965, finally closing in 1993. Became a warehouse for theatrical costumes in 1994. In September 2012 it was sitting disused awaiting a buyer.
It was demolished in September 2017.
Contributed by
Len Gazzard
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
There is a campaign to save this fantastic old building and to turn it back into a cinema once again.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-the-rivoli-cinema-sandown-isle-of-wight
Drat! Having spent a family holiday in Sandown during 1965, I hadn’t realized just how narrowly I missed the chance to see a film at the Rivoli. I do remember it looking very smart externally – no doubt following a spruce-up for the launch of bingo. That summer, the Queen’s, Sandown was enjoying long queues for “Mary Poppins” and the Regal, Shanklin also seemed to be pretty busy.
Building DEMOLISHED September 2017
Demolition photos uploaded.
Proprietors in 1937 were Porters (Sandown) Ltd. The sunburst entrance was added to the building after January 1937, as the earlier Oddfellow’s Hall had a glass and wrought iron canopy still showing in a photograph of the building on the cover of a monthly programme booklet issued for that month.