When I visited Sturminster Newton, in March 2022, I was fortunate to be able to speak to the British Legion hall caretaker/manager, who kindly showed me around. The obvious candidate for the original ‘Hut’ is the building standing at right angles at the rear of the main hall, which is the earliest part of the current structure. The central section of the hall was a former military building that was brought onto the site after the Second World War, and could well have been nicknamed ‘The Hut’ as the film shows continued until around 1967. The brick building that fronts onto the road is a more recent addition.
Further to the final paragraph in the Overview, I visited the Rex in March 2022. The upper floor of the original town hall building is used by a number of businesses, and there is no obvious indication that any original decoration survives. However, what appears to be the original decorative wooden ceiling can be seen in the section of the pub that occupies the rear part of the building. This can be seen in close-up from a mezzanine floor presumably inserted by Wetherspoon.
In 1984 Cyril Barbier, based in Birmingham, started work on a one-thirtieth scale model of the Paramount as it would have been after the takeover by Odeon. This was a true labour of love, and the painstaking detail involved meant that it was not finished until 2012 - a staggering 28 years later! By March 2022 the model, which measures 8ft by 4ft, was on display at Paul Kirner’s Music Palace at Porth, South Wales, where I was able to view it. It really is exceptional: the seats tip-up and the organ rises from the orchestra pit! I have added some photos here - clearly marking them as being of this model!
In January 2021 a convoy of film production vehicles arrived in Carmarthen and filming started on the feature “Save the Cinema”, the story of the real-life campaign waged by Liz Evans, a hairdresser who also ran a youth opera group at the Lyric, to save the cinema/theatre from closure and demolition in the early 1990s. Samantha Morton portrays the intrepid campaigner, while Jonathan Pryce appears as a fellow film fan who used to work at the cinema, and who helps get the projectors working again for a one-off screening of John Ford’s 1941 classic “How Green Was My Valley”, the success of which demonstrates the townsfolk’s support for the Lyric.
The film also depicts Liz’s efforts to obtain Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park”, when distributor United International Pictures reneged on a promise to provide it. She and the mayor of Carmarthen, Richard Goodridge (played by Harry Potter star Tom Felton) made direct contact with Spielberg’s company in America, which cut through the red tape and enabled the Lyric to show the film on 15th July 1993, the same evening as the star-studded UK premiere in London. (The Lyric screening was supposed to start five minutes after the London premiere, but legend has it that the clocks were altered, and it started at the Lyric one minute before!)
The film is corny but very likeable: its heart is definitely in the right place, though projectionists will smile at the ease with which long-unused projectors are miraculously brought back to life, and the equal ease with which transit cans containing two or three reels of 35mm film are carried as if they contain feather dusters!
“Save the Cinema” was produced by Sky Cinema, and premiered on Sky Premiere (satellite TV) from Friday 14th January 2022. It was also given a limited theatrical release in the UK from that date (including, of course, the Lyric, where it played from 14th to 30th January to ‘sold out’ performances). I saw it at the appropriately-named Premiere in Romford (the former Odeon multiplex - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) on Thursday 20th January.
It is nice to see “Save the Cinema” joining the likes of “The Smallest Show on Earth” (1957), “Cinema Paradiso” (1988) and “The Majestic” (2001) in demonstrating the sheer joy of ‘going to the pictures’.
The shutters had been bolted closed on 11th December. On Tuesday 14th December Ms Redfern was summoned to Swansea Magistrates' Court.
She admitted to District Judge Neale Thomas that she had been in contempt of court and also accepted two counts of failing to comply with the Coronavirus Act 2020. Defence solicitor Jonathan Gwyn Mendus Edwards asked the court to be lenient with his client, but Judge Thomas said it was clear that Ms Redfern had broken the law.
She was given a 28 day prison sentence, suspended for nine months, and a combined fine of £15,000. She also has 56 days to pay court costs of £8,940 and a victim surcharge of £190.
The judge did say that Ms Redfern was of previous good character and had worked hard to establish her business.
Cinema & Co hit the headlines in December 2021 when Swansea Council bolted the shutters after the owner, Anna Redfern, was summoned to court for allegedly defying a previous order to close. The cinema had initially been ordered to close by Swansea Council and Welsh Government officials on 19th November for alleged COVID-19 rule breaches. The venue had said it would not enforce the COVID-19 pass scheme and would “take a stand” against new measures applying to cinemas and similar venues, calling them “discriminatory and unlawful”.
The venue had been issued with a closure order and told to shut for 28 days. But it chose to re-open. Anna Redfern was taken to court on 30th November, where Judge Thomas rejected her appeal to dismiss her case - and ordered the venue to follow COVID-19 regulations, effectively meaning it had to close its doors, as per the council’s original order.
Ms Redfern was also told to pay the council’s legal costs of £5,265. But the day after the court case, Cinema and Co. apparently re-opened and hosted a Christmas film screening for people who had booked a ticket online. In response, Swansea Council confirmed a ‘contempt of court’ application will be made, alleging the business has failed to comply with its recent court order. The shutters were then bolted to the ground to prevent any further attempts to re-open.
In the Cinema Theatre Association’s November/December 2021 ‘Bulletin’, Terry Hanstock reported that the Cinema was originally owned by Edwin Pearn, a local coal merchant. He had been born in 1888 and died in 1949, after which his widow Susan (presumably the Mrs S. B. Pearn mentioned in the Overview) and their son, Keith, continued to operate the Cinema.
By the time I visited, on Thursday 28th October 2021, the former Premier was being used by the locally-based St. Rocco’s Hospice. Donated items are stored before being sorted and taken out to the hospice’s network of fund-raising shops. By chance, one of the volunteers was delivering some items, and he kindly allowed me to take a look around. Fortunately, even though the building has been largely gutted, the cinema decoration on the ceiling and upper walls is still very evident and has been nicely picked out in gold. The building’s owner allows the hospice to use it on payment of a minimal rental.
The Bijou was founded by Michael Lockwood, a life-long film fan who had been very active in the North West, in particular with the Preston Cine Society. His dream of operating a cinema was finally realised when he acquired the building that eventually became the Bijou. Sadly, however, he passed away in January 2021 so, with the enforced closure during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he hardly saw his cherished project in action.
The Bijou is operated as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and staffed by a very enthusiastic band of volunteers. They made me very welcome when I visited, on Tuesday 26th October 2021, for a matinee screening of the silent horror classic “Nosferatu” (1921).
Material in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive contradicts the assertion in the Overview (repeated in the book ‘The Cinemas of West Wales’) that the Palace cinema re-opened after the Second World War and then closed around 1960.
A cutting from the ‘Pembroke County & West Wales Guardian’, dated 15th December 1978, reported that plans had been approved for “well-known Pembroke company” L. W. Haggar & Sons (which was running Haggars Cinema in Pembroke - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) to re-open the Palace, which had “closed shortly after the birth of the ‘talkies’ in the 1920s”, as a “cinema and bingo hall”. Which implies that the Palace had not operated as a cinema after the Second World War (supporting this assertion is that it was not listed in the post-war Kinematograph Year Books).
The impetus behind this scheme was to provide the residents of Pembroke Dock with ‘big screen’ entertainment, which they had been denied since the closure of the Grand Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry - in 1974.
It is not known when the Palace Cinema re-opened, but it was certainly showing films by March 1980, as the Archive holds a programme booklet for that month, a ‘joint booklet’ which also provides details of the shows at Haggars Cinema. The Archive holds (intermittent) booklets up to June 1982, and, sadly, the Palace does not appear to have survived much longer, as its final entry in the BFI Film and Television Handbook was in 1983.
The Handbook listed 460 seats. It is not known how many seats there were in the early years, so it is not known whether this was, for example, a circle-only cinema operation, with bingo in the stalls. However, it seems much more likely that bingo - at some stage, if not all the time, operated by Top Ten Bingo - followed the cessation of the film shows.
(Incidentally, the newspaper cutting refers to the Palace Cinema as being on Park Street, as opposed to Queen Street as in this entry. However, Park Street runs at right angles to Queen Street and, while the main cinema entrance does appear to have been on Queen Street, this was very narrow, and there is also access to the side of the auditorium from Park Street.)
The Conway cinema building began life in 1880 as a ladies' swimming pool (the gents' pool was next door, in what was to become the Celtic Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry). At this time the road was called Newfoundland Street, as the buildings were constructed on ‘newly-found’ land. However, the baths became so important that the road was renamed Bath Street. Mixed bathing was allowed after the First World War, when the gents' pool was closed and converted into the Imperial Cinema (later the Celtic). After the Second World War the surviving pool was covered over and the building was converted into the Little Theatre, and became home to the Regency Players. Then, in 1962, David Davies converted it into the Conway Cinema. That closed on or around 28th May 1976, so it didn’t run for very long as a ‘second screen’ to the Commodore.
The Commodore opened on 17th May 1976 with “The Man Who Would be King”, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Having acquired the adjacent Conway Cinema (see separate Cinema Treasures entry), David Davies, owner of the Commodore, had plans drawn up to demolish it and replace it with a second screen for the Commodore, which would seat 350. Unfortunately, he was never able to proceed with this further development.
As a correction to my Overview, according to a letter from Tim Partner, Chief Executive of Arrow Multiplexes Ltd, held in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Arrow cinema opened in December 1997. And a press cutting reported that it closed on Friday 30th June 2000. It transpired that Arrow had forecast higher admissions than had been achieved, and they were unable to pay the rent, even with the landlord, Allied London and Scottish Properties plc, after some negotiation, accepting a reduced level of rent. (Arrow said they had been promised that a bowling alley and theme pub would be built on the site, which would attract further potential patrons.) Eventually, the landlord decided to sell the site.
Contrary to the date of 2001 I gave in the Overview, cuttings in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive report that the Wyllyotts Centre’s first film shows were back in September 1991. So the Centre had clearly opened well before 2001.
According to a press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Regal closed on Thursday 27th November 2003. Presumably both screens were operating on that final day, but “Calendar Girls”, starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, was said to be “the final film”. 22 houses, plus six flats and maisonettes, were due to be built on the site. Perhaps indicative of many situations when cinemas close down, one 32 year old member of that last night audience, who lived in the town, said “It’s a throwback to what I remember as a kid. It’s a great shame it’s closing” - before admitting this was his first visit!
According to a press cutting, dated 10th March 1978, in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, local businessman Joe Wray had bought the cinema building 12 years previously. He was in the DIY trade, and, having used it for storage, he had now invested several thousand pounds into converting it into the Corona Club, a youth club and community centre. It had only been open one week, but membership had already reached 150, and it was expected to grow to around 500. There were pool tables, a juke box, a 50ft long bar (selling shandies) and pinball machines.
Joe had plans to add further attractions but then, on 24th March, just two weeks later, the Evening News reported that theft, vandalism and violence had closed the club down. On 23rd March police had to be called in to sort out trouble at the club, which was packed with teenagers, many of whom were running riot, vandalising pool tables, stealing bottles of drink and picking fights. Older youths also threatened Joe Wray, who said he had had enough and he was closing the club down.
The building was subsequently taken over by Cohens Chemists. However, by 2016, that had relocated to new premises just around the corner, on Market Street, and this building had been demolished and replaced by housing.
I am pretty certain that Ian is correct, that this cinema was never the Dovecot Arts Centre - although, rather confusingly, it does appear to have been regarded as an “arts centre” in its final years. A cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, from 1995, about the Dovecot Arts Centre’s impending move to its current premises, mentions that it opened in 1971, presumably at Dovecot Street.
According to a very brief press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, after closure as a cinema in April 1962 the Windsor opened as a full-time bingo club, with seating for 550 patrons. The cutting does not say when the club closed.
According to a 1971 press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, this cinema only operated from 1924-25. The building was originally at 75 Chapel Street, before the road was renamed. In 1971 it was in use as a workshop by Smalls the builders. By September 2020 it had been converted to residential use, but it is still recognisable as a former place of worship: it is even called “The Old Chapel”!
When I visited Sturminster Newton, in March 2022, I was fortunate to be able to speak to the British Legion hall caretaker/manager, who kindly showed me around. The obvious candidate for the original ‘Hut’ is the building standing at right angles at the rear of the main hall, which is the earliest part of the current structure. The central section of the hall was a former military building that was brought onto the site after the Second World War, and could well have been nicknamed ‘The Hut’ as the film shows continued until around 1967. The brick building that fronts onto the road is a more recent addition.
Further to the final paragraph in the Overview, I visited the Rex in March 2022. The upper floor of the original town hall building is used by a number of businesses, and there is no obvious indication that any original decoration survives. However, what appears to be the original decorative wooden ceiling can be seen in the section of the pub that occupies the rear part of the building. This can be seen in close-up from a mezzanine floor presumably inserted by Wetherspoon.
In 1984 Cyril Barbier, based in Birmingham, started work on a one-thirtieth scale model of the Paramount as it would have been after the takeover by Odeon. This was a true labour of love, and the painstaking detail involved meant that it was not finished until 2012 - a staggering 28 years later! By March 2022 the model, which measures 8ft by 4ft, was on display at Paul Kirner’s Music Palace at Porth, South Wales, where I was able to view it. It really is exceptional: the seats tip-up and the organ rises from the orchestra pit! I have added some photos here - clearly marking them as being of this model!
In January 2021 a convoy of film production vehicles arrived in Carmarthen and filming started on the feature “Save the Cinema”, the story of the real-life campaign waged by Liz Evans, a hairdresser who also ran a youth opera group at the Lyric, to save the cinema/theatre from closure and demolition in the early 1990s. Samantha Morton portrays the intrepid campaigner, while Jonathan Pryce appears as a fellow film fan who used to work at the cinema, and who helps get the projectors working again for a one-off screening of John Ford’s 1941 classic “How Green Was My Valley”, the success of which demonstrates the townsfolk’s support for the Lyric.
The film also depicts Liz’s efforts to obtain Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park”, when distributor United International Pictures reneged on a promise to provide it. She and the mayor of Carmarthen, Richard Goodridge (played by Harry Potter star Tom Felton) made direct contact with Spielberg’s company in America, which cut through the red tape and enabled the Lyric to show the film on 15th July 1993, the same evening as the star-studded UK premiere in London. (The Lyric screening was supposed to start five minutes after the London premiere, but legend has it that the clocks were altered, and it started at the Lyric one minute before!)
The film is corny but very likeable: its heart is definitely in the right place, though projectionists will smile at the ease with which long-unused projectors are miraculously brought back to life, and the equal ease with which transit cans containing two or three reels of 35mm film are carried as if they contain feather dusters!
“Save the Cinema” was produced by Sky Cinema, and premiered on Sky Premiere (satellite TV) from Friday 14th January 2022. It was also given a limited theatrical release in the UK from that date (including, of course, the Lyric, where it played from 14th to 30th January to ‘sold out’ performances). I saw it at the appropriately-named Premiere in Romford (the former Odeon multiplex - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) on Thursday 20th January.
It is nice to see “Save the Cinema” joining the likes of “The Smallest Show on Earth” (1957), “Cinema Paradiso” (1988) and “The Majestic” (2001) in demonstrating the sheer joy of ‘going to the pictures’.
The shutters had been bolted closed on 11th December. On Tuesday 14th December Ms Redfern was summoned to Swansea Magistrates' Court.
She admitted to District Judge Neale Thomas that she had been in contempt of court and also accepted two counts of failing to comply with the Coronavirus Act 2020. Defence solicitor Jonathan Gwyn Mendus Edwards asked the court to be lenient with his client, but Judge Thomas said it was clear that Ms Redfern had broken the law.
She was given a 28 day prison sentence, suspended for nine months, and a combined fine of £15,000. She also has 56 days to pay court costs of £8,940 and a victim surcharge of £190.
The judge did say that Ms Redfern was of previous good character and had worked hard to establish her business.
Cinema & Co hit the headlines in December 2021 when Swansea Council bolted the shutters after the owner, Anna Redfern, was summoned to court for allegedly defying a previous order to close. The cinema had initially been ordered to close by Swansea Council and Welsh Government officials on 19th November for alleged COVID-19 rule breaches. The venue had said it would not enforce the COVID-19 pass scheme and would “take a stand” against new measures applying to cinemas and similar venues, calling them “discriminatory and unlawful”.
The venue had been issued with a closure order and told to shut for 28 days. But it chose to re-open. Anna Redfern was taken to court on 30th November, where Judge Thomas rejected her appeal to dismiss her case - and ordered the venue to follow COVID-19 regulations, effectively meaning it had to close its doors, as per the council’s original order.
Ms Redfern was also told to pay the council’s legal costs of £5,265. But the day after the court case, Cinema and Co. apparently re-opened and hosted a Christmas film screening for people who had booked a ticket online. In response, Swansea Council confirmed a ‘contempt of court’ application will be made, alleging the business has failed to comply with its recent court order. The shutters were then bolted to the ground to prevent any further attempts to re-open.
Please note that the “second photograph” that I refer to in Overview has been deleted due to possible copyright concerns.
The Nob Hill Theatre is also seen in “The Lineup” (1958), with “An Affair to Remember” and “Twelve Angry Men” advertised on the canopy.
In the Cinema Theatre Association’s November/December 2021 ‘Bulletin’, Terry Hanstock reported that the Cinema was originally owned by Edwin Pearn, a local coal merchant. He had been born in 1888 and died in 1949, after which his widow Susan (presumably the Mrs S. B. Pearn mentioned in the Overview) and their son, Keith, continued to operate the Cinema.
By the time I visited, on Thursday 28th October 2021, the former Premier was being used by the locally-based St. Rocco’s Hospice. Donated items are stored before being sorted and taken out to the hospice’s network of fund-raising shops. By chance, one of the volunteers was delivering some items, and he kindly allowed me to take a look around. Fortunately, even though the building has been largely gutted, the cinema decoration on the ceiling and upper walls is still very evident and has been nicely picked out in gold. The building’s owner allows the hospice to use it on payment of a minimal rental.
The Bijou was founded by Michael Lockwood, a life-long film fan who had been very active in the North West, in particular with the Preston Cine Society. His dream of operating a cinema was finally realised when he acquired the building that eventually became the Bijou. Sadly, however, he passed away in January 2021 so, with the enforced closure during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he hardly saw his cherished project in action.
The Bijou is operated as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and staffed by a very enthusiastic band of volunteers. They made me very welcome when I visited, on Tuesday 26th October 2021, for a matinee screening of the silent horror classic “Nosferatu” (1921).
Material in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive contradicts the assertion in the Overview (repeated in the book ‘The Cinemas of West Wales’) that the Palace cinema re-opened after the Second World War and then closed around 1960.
A cutting from the ‘Pembroke County & West Wales Guardian’, dated 15th December 1978, reported that plans had been approved for “well-known Pembroke company” L. W. Haggar & Sons (which was running Haggars Cinema in Pembroke - see separate Cinema Treasures entry) to re-open the Palace, which had “closed shortly after the birth of the ‘talkies’ in the 1920s”, as a “cinema and bingo hall”. Which implies that the Palace had not operated as a cinema after the Second World War (supporting this assertion is that it was not listed in the post-war Kinematograph Year Books).
The impetus behind this scheme was to provide the residents of Pembroke Dock with ‘big screen’ entertainment, which they had been denied since the closure of the Grand Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry - in 1974.
It is not known when the Palace Cinema re-opened, but it was certainly showing films by March 1980, as the Archive holds a programme booklet for that month, a ‘joint booklet’ which also provides details of the shows at Haggars Cinema. The Archive holds (intermittent) booklets up to June 1982, and, sadly, the Palace does not appear to have survived much longer, as its final entry in the BFI Film and Television Handbook was in 1983.
The Handbook listed 460 seats. It is not known how many seats there were in the early years, so it is not known whether this was, for example, a circle-only cinema operation, with bingo in the stalls. However, it seems much more likely that bingo - at some stage, if not all the time, operated by Top Ten Bingo - followed the cessation of the film shows.
(Incidentally, the newspaper cutting refers to the Palace Cinema as being on Park Street, as opposed to Queen Street as in this entry. However, Park Street runs at right angles to Queen Street and, while the main cinema entrance does appear to have been on Queen Street, this was very narrow, and there is also access to the side of the auditorium from Park Street.)
The Conway cinema building began life in 1880 as a ladies' swimming pool (the gents' pool was next door, in what was to become the Celtic Cinema - see separate Cinema Treasures entry). At this time the road was called Newfoundland Street, as the buildings were constructed on ‘newly-found’ land. However, the baths became so important that the road was renamed Bath Street. Mixed bathing was allowed after the First World War, when the gents' pool was closed and converted into the Imperial Cinema (later the Celtic). After the Second World War the surviving pool was covered over and the building was converted into the Little Theatre, and became home to the Regency Players. Then, in 1962, David Davies converted it into the Conway Cinema. That closed on or around 28th May 1976, so it didn’t run for very long as a ‘second screen’ to the Commodore.
The Commodore opened on 17th May 1976 with “The Man Who Would be King”, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Having acquired the adjacent Conway Cinema (see separate Cinema Treasures entry), David Davies, owner of the Commodore, had plans drawn up to demolish it and replace it with a second screen for the Commodore, which would seat 350. Unfortunately, he was never able to proceed with this further development.
The Celtic Cinema closed on 24th March 1975 with the Dracula spoof “Vampira”, starring David Niven.
As a correction to my Overview, according to a letter from Tim Partner, Chief Executive of Arrow Multiplexes Ltd, held in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Arrow cinema opened in December 1997. And a press cutting reported that it closed on Friday 30th June 2000. It transpired that Arrow had forecast higher admissions than had been achieved, and they were unable to pay the rent, even with the landlord, Allied London and Scottish Properties plc, after some negotiation, accepting a reduced level of rent. (Arrow said they had been promised that a bowling alley and theme pub would be built on the site, which would attract further potential patrons.) Eventually, the landlord decided to sell the site.
The Fair World Film Centre closed on Sunday 5th September 1993. One of the final films was “Cliffhanger”, starring Sylvester Stallone.
According to information in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Regal closed on 5th July 1975.
Contrary to the date of 2001 I gave in the Overview, cuttings in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive report that the Wyllyotts Centre’s first film shows were back in September 1991. So the Centre had clearly opened well before 2001.
Further to the Overview, the 2003 photograph from the Cinema Theatre Association Archive shows the building being occupied by a laundry.
According to a press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, the Regal closed on Thursday 27th November 2003. Presumably both screens were operating on that final day, but “Calendar Girls”, starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, was said to be “the final film”. 22 houses, plus six flats and maisonettes, were due to be built on the site. Perhaps indicative of many situations when cinemas close down, one 32 year old member of that last night audience, who lived in the town, said “It’s a throwback to what I remember as a kid. It’s a great shame it’s closing” - before admitting this was his first visit!
According to a press cutting, dated 10th March 1978, in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, local businessman Joe Wray had bought the cinema building 12 years previously. He was in the DIY trade, and, having used it for storage, he had now invested several thousand pounds into converting it into the Corona Club, a youth club and community centre. It had only been open one week, but membership had already reached 150, and it was expected to grow to around 500. There were pool tables, a juke box, a 50ft long bar (selling shandies) and pinball machines.
Joe had plans to add further attractions but then, on 24th March, just two weeks later, the Evening News reported that theft, vandalism and violence had closed the club down. On 23rd March police had to be called in to sort out trouble at the club, which was packed with teenagers, many of whom were running riot, vandalising pool tables, stealing bottles of drink and picking fights. Older youths also threatened Joe Wray, who said he had had enough and he was closing the club down.
The building was subsequently taken over by Cohens Chemists. However, by 2016, that had relocated to new premises just around the corner, on Market Street, and this building had been demolished and replaced by housing.
I am pretty certain that Ian is correct, that this cinema was never the Dovecot Arts Centre - although, rather confusingly, it does appear to have been regarded as an “arts centre” in its final years. A cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, from 1995, about the Dovecot Arts Centre’s impending move to its current premises, mentions that it opened in 1971, presumably at Dovecot Street.
According to a very brief press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, after closure as a cinema in April 1962 the Windsor opened as a full-time bingo club, with seating for 550 patrons. The cutting does not say when the club closed.
According to a 1971 press cutting in the Cinema Theatre Association Archive, this cinema only operated from 1924-25. The building was originally at 75 Chapel Street, before the road was renamed. In 1971 it was in use as a workshop by Smalls the builders. By September 2020 it had been converted to residential use, but it is still recognisable as a former place of worship: it is even called “The Old Chapel”!