New Cinema

Located in Ilfracombe, Devon. The building was first opened as the Rechabite Hall on the 8th August 1905. It was a two storey building with the meeting hall upstairs on the first floor. This room became the Picture Hall on 15th April 1911. The Picture Hall was closed on 20th February 1915.

It re-opened as the Electric Picture Theatre on 22nd July 1915. It was closed at the end of the suumer season on 9th October 1915 with Charlie Chaplin in “Tilliie’s Punctured Romance”.

It re-opened as the Empire Cinema on 14th February 1916 after renovations had been carried out. On the 22nd July 1925 a fire in the projection box destroyed the film “Lorna Doone” and equipment. Repairs were carried out and new equipment installed and the Empire Cinema re-opened 19th October 1925, with Lilian Gish in “The White Sister”, but the projectors broke down and the cinema was closed for a week. It was equipped with a sound-on-disc equipment on 18th September 1930 showing Fanny Brice in “My Man”. The Empire Cinema was closed on 3rd January 1931.

It re-opened as the Plaza Cinema on the 4th April 1931 with Paul Whiteman in “King of Jazz”. It had been equipped with a Morrison sound system. The Plaza Cinema was closed on 10th June 1933.

It re-opened as the New Cinema on 7th August 1933. The proscenium was 20ft wide. In the early-1940’s it was equipped with a British Thomson Houston(BTH) sound system. The New Cinema was closed on 1st October 1951. The building is still standing in 2015, now named the Old Picture Hall and converted into flats.

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