Regal Cinema

In the small north Norfolk coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea the Electric Cinema was created in an enlarged and extended Oddfellows Hall. In the 1920’s, as the Electric Palace Cinema, it was operated by the Wells-next-the-Sea Cinema Syndicate. In 1931 it was listed as (Closed) but soon re-opened and operated by Cyril Claxton, and renamed Central Cinema.

Later in the 1930’s it was gutted and revamped, with the addition of a steel frame and rendered block auditorium to seat 310 patrons, by East Coast Cinemas, part of the Bostock Cinema Circuit. It reopened in December 1937 as the Regal Cinema.

The 1953 Kine Year Book lists the seating capacity as 400, so perhaps some further enlargement was also carried out.

The Regal Cinema closed on 31st March 1973. After sitting vacant for a few years, in 1977 the local council considered its possible purchase as a community hall, but the scheme fell through. In 1980 the auditorium was demolished, leaving the 1885 Oddfellows Hall to be converted into a pair of dwellings. One was rather aptly called ‘Regal Cottage’.

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