New Empire Palace
Castle Street,
Montrose,
DD10
Castle Street,
Montrose,
DD10
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Empire Picture House, Empire Variety Theatre
Nearby Theaters
In Montrose, Angus, the Empire Picture House is believed to have opened around 1922. It was operated by Messrs. Cargill and Lyon, and the manager was James Moir. There was one show nightly, with two changes of programme each week.
By the mid-1920’s, the Empire Picture House had been leased to James Bell and renamed the Empire Variety Theatre. This indicates a move from films to live shows - but not completely, it would seem, as, soon afterwards, a new company, Montrose (Empire) Ltd. was set up by Mr Bell, and the advertising was then for “pictures and variety”.
By January 1927, according to an advertisement held by the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, this cinema/theatre had been renamed the New Empire Palace.
Circa 1929 Meyer Kalson took over the lease. It was closed around 1931 possibly as a silent cinema. The New Empire Palace was not listed in the Kinematograph Year Books into the 1930’s.
In the 1960’s it was last used as a boxing club for boys. The building has long been demolished.
Contributed by
David Simpson
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
I lived in Montrose during the sixties. The New Empire Palace was in use as an Amateur Athletics Club, in fact a boxing club for boys. They used the stalls area. The cinema had never installed sound and closed around 1931. The proscenium was unchanged and the screen still in place against the rear wall. All the original seating was in the balcony and was used by spectators in the bixing club. The projection room, at the rear of the balcony, was accessed from below by means of a vertical ladder up to a hatch in the floor. The entire projection room was clad in exposed wood! All the equipment was gone except for the film storage cabinet. This was full of old spools with bits of nitrate film still in some of them. I was allowed to keep one. A local character called Vivian M Douglas had been the pianist at the Empire. He still had all the sheet music he used to accompany the films. A friend and myself used to give occasional film shows at a local retirement home. Mr Douglas used to come with us to provide piano accompaniment. He also appeared twice on the popular TV quiz show ‘Double Your Money’ answering questions on opera. The Empire Palace has since been demolished and replaced by housing.