Picturedrome

The Picturedrome was established in December 1912. It was located in a converted Wesleyan Chapel which from 1866 had seen service as a British School which closed in 1894, and had also seen service in a number of guises since then.

The man who opened it as a cinema venue was Mr. J.C. Codmore, the Rhyl cinema entrepreneur, who named all of his theatres Picturedromes. He engaged a Mr. Stein to accompany the films on piano.

Codman was ever the smart publicist, and would send his men out on the streets of Welshpool during the day to film the inhabitants going about their daily business and then offer a prize of 2/6d (Not an inconsiderrable sum in those days) to any member of the audience who recognised themselves in the film.

By 1915 however, Codman had gone bankrupt and the cinema lay empty until in 1918 Messrs Donaldson and McDougall re-opened it with Mr. T. Jones as resident manager and a diet of one show per night with two changes of programme per week on Mondays and Thursdays. (There were no shows on Sundays at this time unless it was a special religious show), at prices from 5d to 1/3d.

The venue lasted until 1924, when the Clive Picture House was opened under the same owners. After a period in other uses the Picturedrome was demolished

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.