Palace Cinema

In the Cumbria town of Aspatria, the original Palace Cinema was built by the fairground showman Biddall family, who had taken their Ghost Illusion and Bioscope Show around that part of the county. The cinema, a fairly basic wooden construction, opened in 1911 (or, possibly, 1914).

Ownership soon passed to Mr C. H. Over and his family. They completely rebuilt the Palace Cinema in brick and re-opened it in August 1939. This new Palace Cinema had a 16ft deep stage and two dressing rooms.

In due course, when audiences began to fall, bingo was introduced three days a week. A fire in February 1982 kept the Palace Cinema closed for a year and, with great reluctance, when it re-opened in 1983 the owner, Miss Ella Over, decided that films were no longer a viable option.

The Palace Cinema became a full-time bingo hall, except that, in the mid-1990’s, film shows were reintroduced - but only two per week, for children, using video projection on a 12ft screen. It is unclear how long these continued.

Otherwise, bingo continued for the next 20 years, closing in April 2003 when the licence expired. The building, including its café, were put up for sale for £59,995. It had been hoped that it could become a youth centre, but was demolished around 2010.

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