Barnstaple

This fine looking building was built as the Corn Exchange in 1855 in
Boutport Street, as part of the large Markets Scheme for the town.
The Music Hall was situated on the first floor. The Theatre Royal
had closed in 1854 so this new hall became the towns theatre for a
while. The hall was redecorated by Owen Davis and renamed
Albert Hall with a 3 manual organ installed from Broadgate House,
reopening 27.10.1897.

The first record of films here was from 19.05.1910 when Oliver
Joseph Nicklin, musical instrument dealer obtained a 12 month
licence for a non permanent enclosure. There is no further record
until 1930 when the Theatre Royal closed to be replaced with the
Gaumont Palace. Charles Harmill and Cockrum Castle installed a
permanent enclosure and were licenced from 13.03.1930. The
licence stated no smoking in the auditorium. The licence passed
to Harcourt Cecil Beryl 22.05.1930 & Edward Charles Betty
03.07.1930, expiring February 1931.

The building was used on and off as a cinema during the 1930s by
Barnstaple Entertainments Ltd using BTH sound. George Henry
Joseph Young obtained the licence for the Albert Hall from
11.02.1937 to 10.02.1938. It is believed this operation was
associated with the builders of the new Regal cinema, as this
operation ceased as soon as the Regal opened.

During WWII the Albert Hall continued to be a place of
entertainment as the Civic Hall. Disaster struck on the night of
22.11.1941 following a dance, when a discarded cigarette caught
the building alight. Fueled by a store of food on the ground floor
the entire building was gutted, leaving only the walls standing. A
temporary roof was built and for the remaining part of the war the
building operated as a British Restaurant.

After the war, as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations,
Barnstaple Corporation organised a rebuilding. The architect was
Mr Bruce W Oliver KRIBA who designed a new ballroom/theatre for
the interior of the building. This featured a stage and raked
balcony, however the stalls were flat with removable seating for
dancing. Reopened by Mayor Clr.FJB Sanders JP as Queen's Hall on
23.03.1952. Seating was provided for 880. The interior was quite
plain and very modern in design.

The building passed to North Devon Theatres Trust, who
employed Burrell, Foley & Fischer architects to modernise the
theatre in 1994. These works included new stage and dressing
room facilities and adding a rake and fixed seating to the stalls
area. The building continues as a theatre today. The building is
listed Grade II, with a fine Italianate exterior, which is original to
1855.

Albany Ward Theatres and Gaumont British Picture Corporation
wasted no time in closing and demolishing the Theatre Royal
which had stood here. The architect appointed to design the
replacement Gaumont Palace was a good choice, W illiam H enry
Watkins FRIBA of Bristol. Watkins had already shown himself able
to design major cinemas including Provincial Cinematograph
Theatres Regent in Bristol, as with the Regent, Watkins used Percy
Bartlett to draw up the plans.

The site was expanded by the purchase and demolition of the
adjoining Kingsley Hotel, who's yard would provide separate front
stalls access via an entrance further up the street. Watkins would
not have been able to build a tall frontage due to the narrow street
the site was situated on, but he could create a fine facade 70' wide
using a mix of multicoloured bricks and Portland Stone. The
building works were done by McLaughlin & Harvey of London.

Four thick columns of brick rise in pairs to support a stone lintel
running the length of the facade. Between them are four sets of
entrance doors to the foyer which is wide with white & buff
Terrazzo paving in rectangular design. Above the doors are a set of
four columns in stone dividing the large windows to the circle
lounge. The foyer and circle had Columbian wood panelling
painted green, the colour scheme was blue-green and honey-gold
with ivory tones. At the top of the central two columns are a pair
of frightful theatrical masks. The original canopy allowed for a small
platform outside the windows and in the past the manager would
set up a 16mm projector here to show trailers at night against the
white building opposite, possible due to the narrow street.

Inside was a large auditorium seating 1124, 702 stalls and 422 in the circle. The
auditorium was dominated by a triple layer rectangular proscenium 40' by 26' with
cove lighting. The auditorium has a barrel ceiling and concealed colour lighting.
Two vomitories enter the circle. The auditorium scheme was honey-gold with
reds and greens. The sound system was British Acoustic. The cinema was
opened on 03.08.1931 by the Mayor, Mr J T Dunn JP. The first film was Whoopee.

The cinema was renamed Gaumont in 1955 and Odeon 21.10.1962. Sold in a
batch to Classic 9.12.1967, the cinema was renamed Classic. The circle was
blocked off under Classic control to allow bingo in the stalls and films to continue
in the circle. The cinema was sold to independent operator Herbert Keene in
1982 and was renamed Astor with 360 seats. Due to the stage and rake of stalls
being in situ, the building was listed Grade II. The single screen cinema as well
as the bingo operation waned but struggled on into the 1990s.

Then Peter Hoare of Scott Cinemas negotiated the purchase of
the whole building with the aim of providing a multi-screen
cinema for the town. Three new screens were constructed in the
stalls, using the original rake and the foyer and lounge (with
licenced bar) redecorated along with the circle screen which has
been restepped and some seats replaced with luxury Pullman
chairs. The building is air conditioned. Plans are being prepared
for a fifth screen. The cinema is now open full time as the Central
and has become a very popular cinema once again, with films
often selling out. This must be a perfect case for showing how a
struggling single screen cinema can reverse its fortunes almost
overnight by providing more comfort and convenience and choice
to its patrons. Seating: Screen 1(circle) 332, Screen 2 ~ 90 seats,
Screen 3 ~ 90 seats (both rear stalls) and Screen 4 (front stalls 126)

Built by Maurice Prince, who operated a number of cinemas in
North Devon, the Regal was the main competition for the Gaumont
Palace. Situated on The Strand, on the site of the Angel Hotel, the
cinema was opened 30.08.1937 by Mayor Capt. S W Slatter. The
opening films were The Vulture and Fire over England. The
operating company was Regal (Barnstaple) Ltd. Down the side of
the building runs Theatre Lane where the Shakespeare Theatre
once stood. In operation until 1828, this very old theatre saw
Shakespeare and his Players perform on stage.

The buildings architects were Orphoot, Whiting & Lindsay FFRIBA.
The exterior has a slightly Arabian feel to it. The frontage is
dominated by two Egyptian columns behind which were set
windows to the circle lounge. This area was lit up at night quite
effectively. At the top of the side wings are set urns. Originally
these had glass flame shaped light fittings attached, making a real
feature of the exterior. The Regal sign was set above the row of
five arched openings (also lit from within) at the top of the facade.
The canopy featured a sunburst design set under the canopy in
neon lights.

Three sets of double doors gave access to the foyer. The foyer was
straight forward with central doors to stalls, stairs either side for
circle and pay boxes set into the side walls. There was trough
lighting. The auditorium seated 1,122 in stalls and circle. Very
much built as a cinema/theatre (the Gaumont Palace scarcely had a
stage) the building had a 20' deep stage with 6 dressing rooms and
the proscenium was 30' wide. The sound system was BTH, British
Thompson Houston.

In the late 1940s the architect David E Nye (who had built the
Strand Bideford for the company worked on a refurbishment of this
cinema. A canopy, built before WWII but not installed was added
to the building and the vitrolite panels on the facade were replaced
with shaped tiles. Internally the building was redecorated the
foyer ceiling in ivory, with cornice and embellishments in old ivory.
The walls were enamel ivory splattered with metallic. Woodwork
ebony black, semi-gloss. The auditorium was again ivory with pale
blue under the balcony, the dado was in plum with a peach
proscenium. Mr Nye redesigned the back stage area creating extra
dressing rooms while removing a two storey set of dressing rooms
from the side of the stage to create larger wings. This suggests
that live shows were an important feature of the Regal's
programme, and at this time the Albert Hall had not yet been
rebuilt.

The ownership passed to Stratford on Avon Picture House Ltd, and
closed along with its sister cinema, The Strand, Bideford in 1981.
Taken over by James Robertson on 07.05.1981 who also runs
cinemas at Launceston and Bognor Regis. The cinema closed for
good on 01.05.1982. The building became a nightclub, which it
remains today.

The substantial Theatre Royal in Boutport Street was owned, along with other public buildings in the
town by Barnstaple Long Bridge Trust Charity. They had to earn enough from their assets to ensure the
good repair of the Barnstaple Long Bridge. The theatre was built in 1834 as the Grecian Hall Theatre,
and was remodelled in 1885 by Mr Petter and renamed Theatre Royal. The site had originally been
occupied by ancient houses, known as the seven drunkards as their walls leaned out into the street.

The earliest record of film in the building is the cinema licence issued from 08.09.1910 on behalf of the
Long Bridge Trust. It notes a permanent enclosure (projection box) situated on the outside of the
building. The trust tried to establish the theatre as a cinema called Picturedrome at this time with the
help of Thomas Henry Tresize. On 14.10.1915 the licence was transferred to Reginald Ernest Watts, and
passed to Wallace J Cooke 28.09.1916. The Licence notes films not to be shown on Sundays, Good Friday
or Christmas Day. Also that children of school age are to be excluded if the Health Medical Officer
closes schools due to epidemic.

A lease was agreed for 14 years starting 25.12.1918 with Albany Ward, theatre proprietor of Weymouth.
The rent was £150 per annum. The terms of the lease were demanding:

"Must redecorate, install a service of radiators for heating the auditorium and will re-seat the whole of
the pit and circle of the premises on the most approved modern lines, and will at his own expense. And
provide a reasonable number of dramatic companies each year. At the end, yield up said radiators and
seating"

Perhaps not Albany Wards best deal, but he may well have made these improvements anyway. Having
control of the two other cinemas in the town, he needed the Theatre Royal to ensure total dominance.
By the time the lease was coming up for renewal, much had changed. Cinemas were now modern and
purpose built and Albany Ward Theatres were a subsidiary of Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, in turn
a part of Gaumont British Picture Corporation.

Although Albany Ward was still in charge, he had a boss, Edmund Albert Crisp, Manager of Albany Ward
Theatres, the man who could get the money out of Gaumont British. Albany Ward wrote a letter to the
Long Bridge Trust from his Stroud home on 17.03.1928 proposing to buy the freehold of the Theatre
Royal for £5,000. Negotiations continued and the sale was agreed 20.06.1930. This was only a few
months after Mr Crisp had received a letter from the Justice Clerks Office demanding the closure of the
gallery level due to insufficient exits. Whether the Trust knew that Albany Ward intended to pull the
building down was not clear, but to Albany Ward there was only one future here, to build a grand new
theatre, a Gaumont Palace no less. Closed February 1930.

Located at 2 Silver Street, at the Lion Foundry, this cinema was situated in an old Foresters Hall. The
first licence was granted from 12.10.1910 to George Bliss and Leo Bliss. The licence stated that the
enclosure (projection box) should be situated outside the auditorium. The licence was transferred to
George Doome Poulton on 04.04.1912 and passed to William Alfred Vaughan and Sidney George Vaughan.
The operation ceased in 1917 under Frank Bickford.

With the opening of the Picture House in a more recent Foresters Hall, in the High Street, the Picture
Palace was reopened as The Palace by William Young. The cinema was advertised as "Barnstaple's Cosy
Kinema". In turn the operation passed to Wilfred Ernest Jones from 02.01.1919 and by renewal on
10.10.1919 Albany Ward had taken control of the cinema. Albany Ward continued to operate the cinema
until closure in 1924. The site is now under the bus station.