Paignton

Built by W R Fletcher and George Soudon Bridgman in 1889 as
the Public Hall and Assembly Rooms, the building cost £3000.
Built of red sandstone and opened 12th September 1890 the
hall could seat 700. When the Royal Bijou Theatre was
demolished, its elegant mahogany and guilt proscenium was
installed here. In 1936 a new proscenium was installed and
the Royal Bijou proscenium became an anti proscenium.
There were 2 dressing rooms.

During World War II the building was used as a Garrison
Theatre. At this time the basement that had been a roller
skating rink became a shooting range. After the war the
building was known as the Palace Avenue Theatre, after the
street it was situated on. This has now become Palace
Theatre.

Film shows were common here until World War I, in the
Badminton Hall.

This bright structure was the Electric Palace at The Triangle, Totness
Road. A triangular block of buildings within which the auditorium is lost
out of sight. The cinema was built by Paignton Electric Palace Ltd and
opened on 15th April 1911.

By 1920 W Lindsell of the Cinedrome Plymouth was leasing the building
and the cinema was briefly known as Cinedrome. By 1923 A O Ellis was
running the cinema and the name had reverted. Picturetone sound was
installed. There were 300 seats and a 16' wide proscenium, compared to
other cinemas in Paignton this was the smallest cinema, yet it was always
popular.

It was perhaps its popularity that resulted in its closure. Its small
entrance and foyer opened out onto a narrow pavement on the busiest
road in Paignton. Large crowds were often seen queuing outside and by
1949 the cinema closed due to safety considerations.

Perhaps the most written about cinema in the west country.
The proposition being that this may be the earliest surviving
purpose built cinema in the country. Well as it seems no one
can agree on when it was built, when it opened or even what
it was built to do I am not going to join in the debate.

It was certainly open as a cinema by March 1914, on Torbay
Road operated by Paignton Picture House Ltd. It had 375
seats, 271 in the stalls and 104 in the balcony and there were
4 private boxes at the back. A famous visitor was Agatha
Christie who lived locally. She would sit in seat 2, row 2 of
the circle and the Palace Cinema in her books was based on
this building.

Western Electric sound was installed by 1930 and in the late
1950's a CinemaScope screen 22' by 11' was installed within
the proscenium of 24'. The projectors in use in later years
was a Westrex 7000 and a Westar 2001 using a Westrex
Tower. Renamed Torbay Cinema in 1968, the cinema was
closing during the winter months.

The cinema finally closed on 26th September 1999 due to the opening of the
Apollo cinema just down the road. The last film was The Last Picture Show. The
building is Grade II* listed and has had very little alteration over the years with
many of its original features intact. The cinema has remained empty since closure.

The Festival Theatre was opened in June 1967 on The Green
along the Promenade. Its modern streamlined design is
somewhat reminiscent of art deco buildings of the 1930s.
With live entertainment now focused on the Palace Theatre
in town the Festival Theatre closed on 3rd January 1999 for
conversion into a nine screen Apollo multiplex cinema. The
last show at the Festival Theatre was Cinderella on Ice.

The Apollo cinema opened summer 1999 with the following
seating capacities:
1~360, 2~184, 3~184, 4~219, 5~360, 6~77, 7~86, 8~33, 9~97.

Oldway House estate for the most part survives in Paignton, including the parts used as the Archway
silent film studios. Unfortunately a very fine theatre on the estate was demolished in 1904. The
Oldway House Theatre was opened in 1873 and was designed by Mr Bridgman who is mentioned above
as the architect of the Public Hall. It has also been suggested that the great Frank Matcham had a
hand in the building of this theatre, certainly Matcham was very prolific.

Some film shows took place here before demolition.

Another George Bridgman structure in Paignton was the 780ft long pier built in 1878. Bridgman was
commissioned to build the pier by local barrister Arthur Hyde Denby. There was a large Grand
Pavilion at the end of the pier and a cinema licence was held from 1910. The building was destroyed
by fire in 1919.

The Regent, Station Road Paignton was a stunningly modern building. With a relatively plain facade on
two streets the corner was dominated by a square tower with the corner sliced off to allow a vertical
sign to be placed onto it. At the top of the tower on both elevations were narrow horizontal windows
getting longer the higher they were. These were illuminated at night. On opening there was a giant
crown placed on the top of the tower but it is not clear if this was a permanent feature. The canopy ran
fully along both facades. The architect was Leslie H Kemp, and the construction work took only 18weeks.

The cinema opened in August 1932 and was owned by Picture Playhouses Ltd who continued to run the
cinema until closure on 30th March 1983. The sound system was Western Electric and there were 730
seats. The proscenium was 27' wide. CinemaScope was later installed and the last film was Double
Jeopardy.

The building then stood empty and was offered for sale at £350,000 and was eventually demolished in
1987.

Opening just after the Regent, this cinema was built by Paignton
Palladium Ltd. with 1000 seats. There was an 18' deep stage with
three dressing rooms behind a 34' wide proscenium. There was a
2 manual 7 rank Christie Organ and a café included. The building
was leased to the County Cinema Circuit. The cinema was opened
by the Chairman of the UDC Mr G H Kingdon on 31st December
1932. Melbourne Holman played the organ and the first film was
The Midshipmaid. The building had been designed by local
architects William Wolff and J E Watts and was built by Mr R M Ely
of Paignton. A rather classical looking building it was the
opposite of the Regent.

It may have been County's interest in the building that played a
part, as the Palladium became an Odeon in 1943 and was renamed
Odeon in 1947. In a straight choice, Odeon would probably have
preferred the simple and modern looking Regent. The cinema
closed in September 1961 to become a bingo hall, but in the
summer months films were also shown. The final film show was
in September 1987 and the building was demolished in 1989.

Most people thought that the travelling showman screening films in
a tent in a field was history by the 1950's. However the Itinerama
Cinerama Mobile Theatre was just that, a cinema in a tent, a very
very large tent for a very very large screen.

The short lived venture visited Paignton and was set up at Iclennon
Valley. Featuring the largest screen in Britain the Cinerama films
This is Cinerama + Cinerama Holiday were shown. It is perhaps
appropriate that the cinematic side show that was Cinerama, was
well a side show in this particular case.