Cornwall Cinema Gazetteer

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FOWEY

Troy

Fowey is very typical of small port towns in Cornwall with its narrow streets and tightly packed buildings.  It is quite surprising that two substancial cinema buildings were built and operated in the town. The Troy derives its name from the novels of Sir Arthur Quiller Couch, who referred to Fowey in his stories as Troy Town.  Built behind the existing buildings at 22 Fore Street, the foyer was a passageway between the International Tea Rooms on the left and a hairdressers on the right.  Imediately behind, the large auditorium completely filled the land right down to the waters edge. The cinema opened with 342 seats on 5th July 1937 and was operated by Rowland Clifford Hill of Palace Theatre Truro, and later leased by Duchy Cinemas Ltd.   The sound was Western Electric until after the war when it became RCA. There was a small balcony.  The very difficult location and lack of access appears to have been of concern from the outset of this cinema.  The Cinematograph Record states: "For the purpose of affording ample means of safe egress for all persons leaving the cinema, the licencee shall provide and maintain for the use of such persons a free and unrestricted right of way from the exits on the south west side of the cinema over, across and through the court and passageway leading to Fore Street, Fowey"

Indeed the plans clearly show a small walkway, leading to a small courtyard near the cinema, but on adjacent land.  From the courtyard you would have to turn right and down a long narrow passage to emerge back onto Fore Street, some distance from the cinema entrance. Today the entrance passage is easy to locate.  The front portion of the cinema (the rear of the auditorium) has been demolished to make a car park at the end of the passage.  The remaining structure having been converted into holiday apartments.

The interior of the Troy in 1954, probably this proscenium is modern.

A photograph of the entrance of the Fowey Troy while it was still operating. Copyright, courtesy of H & B Graeme, Fowey.

Gone but not forgotten:        Royal Borough Cinema

Situated where North Street and Passage Street meet this early but substancial building is also compromised by its limited location.  Like the Troy it backed onto the water, its access issues resolved by a passageway running down the left of the building, with a timber yard beyond the passageway. The timber yard housed the gents urinals and also the rewinding room.  Was the rewinding room safer in a timber yard than the cinema itself? To the right of the building was an ironmongers shop.  Somehow the ironmonger had rights to use an upstairs storeroom within the cinema building.  The cinema needed the largest available floor for seating so left the storeroom, inside the auditorium, held up above the patrons seats by pillars across the right hand side of the auditorium giving it an uneven shape.  The stalls seated 235 and a balcony a further 45. The cinema was opened and operated by The Walfords Family  as Royal Borough Cinema, later just Cinema, who operated a number of cinemas in the area.  It was transferred to Rowland Clifford Hill who ran the Troy in 1938 and he closed the cinema 29th January 1939.  The sound system was BTH - British Thomson Houston and the proscenium width was 26'. The stage was 10' deep. After closure the timber yard moved in and the whole site was cleared in 1975 for a car park.

The top photograph is a rare picture of the Royal Borough Cinema.  The photograph above is of the auditorium after it had been taken over by the timber yard.  The projection box and balcony can be seen. Copyright, courtesy of H & B Graeme, Fowey.

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