Ilfracombe

Originally built as a market hall in 1900 the building is situated
on a steep slope next to Market Street. The hall was vast,
able to seat 1400 and had stage facilities installed. Film
shows were run here by the Town Council who owned the
building and during both World Wars, the building was known
as the Garrison Theatre. Films ceased in 1921.

In July 1923 Albany Ward leased the building and showed
both films and live acts here until 1930 when again the
council took over the running of the building. In the 1970s
part of the building was gutted to create a roller skating rink,
but a smaller and improved theatre venue was created. This
was situated in the lower part of the building and the fly
tower can still be seen today.

The building was finally closed by the council in 1989 and has
since been a nightclub.

This fine looking building opened on 14th May 1910 as a
concert hall, on Sea Road. It operated in season with 500
seats and had electric and gas lighting. Films were regularly
shown in the first floor hall from about 1911 until 1916.

The building remained a theatre until 1963 when concerns
over safety resulted in closure to become an amusement
arcade. This building is still considered a good surviving
example of sea side architecture of the period and is Grade II
listed, and externally retains many decorative features.

This cinema was created in a former Rechabite Temperance Hall of 1905
and situated on the first floor, on Northfield Road. The ground floor
was still used by this organisation and was later known as the Artisan.
This cinema always struggled as it was rather out of the way, from the
sea front and shopping areas. The faded facade suggests that the
building would have been quite impressive when it first opened. The
cinema was opened on 11th April 1911 and was run by A O Ellis. The
Picture Hall closed 20th February 1915.

It reopened as Picture Theatre on 22nd July 1915 and again closed on
9th October 1915. Redecorated and run by Mr Summerwill the building
reopened as The Empire on 14th February 1916, seating 320. Soon
operated by Walter Bayley.

It passed to Mr J L Penney in 1923 but in 1925 a fire in the box
caused damage to the building costing £500 and the cinema was
closed for some months. Ownership passed to S E Reynolds in
the late 1920s. The cinema closed again in 1931.

On 4th April 1932 the cinema reopened with Morrison sound as
the Plaza, but closed the following summer. The cinema was
taken over by F G Sanders & K A Barrett and reopened as the
New Cinema 7th August 1933, the proscenium width was 20'.
After the war British Thompson Houston sound was installed and
was run by W L Barrett and PCD Buse with 307 seats. The cinema
finally closed 1st October 1951. The building has been disused for
a number of years, but is now converted to flats.

This cinema was built by a group of businessmen on the site of a
public house, a useful trick to obtain a drinks licence. The architect
was Allen T Hussell, who designed a small but quality building.
Situated at 25 High Street in the centre of the town there were 400
seats in the stalls and 100 in the balcony. Opened 10th July 1913 with
Sparrow and The Homestead Race.

The exterior was made of Bath stone with black and white marble in
the foyer. There was a café and tea room above the foyer. The most
interesting feature of the facade are the bay windows the central bay
giving a fine view of the High Street. There are two smaller bays of
triangular shape either side. It is possible that these rather modern
looking bay windows may have been part of the later rebuilt cinema.

Inside, the auditorium had decorative plaster and hand painted panels
by Gustave Roberts of Munich, including a painted central panel on
the ceiling. The owners were Palace (Ilfracombe) Ltd. In May 1920 the
cinema was taken over by Albany Ward. In March 1921 the building
was closed for rebuilding and reopened on 22nd June 1921, Albany
Ward was present at the reopening. This would be run along with the
Alexandra Hall, where Albany Ward specialised in live shows. The
Palace closed in 1926 as Albany Ward had obtained the bigger Scala
Theatre further up the road and these were lean years for cinema
going.

This building project was quite unusual. The existing building had been the
New Christ Church of the Free Church of England, built from the former
Great Western Hotel of 1889 at 134 High Street. The church had only been
completed in 1939. The rebuilding was allowed to commence in 1948 as the
architect Harold Weston ingeniously reused the existing steel work
structure of the church and the facade we see today was retained and
belonged to the church.

The work was carried out by A E Watson (Exeter) Ltd. The steel work was
used to create a stalls floor at second floor level across the church, the
upper parts of the church's windows were blocked off while the lower part
of the windows retained to give light to the first floor. It is believed this
ground floor area was the cafe/restaurant. There was also a balcony
constructed. You enter the building at street level (ground floor).

The cinema opened 11th October 1948 with Spring in Hyde Park and Sing a
Song of Sixpence. With only the Scala and New Cinema operating at this
time, there would seem to have been room for a further cinema in
Ilfracombe, however it was soon in financial difficulties. Who exactly
owned and ran the cinema is unclear and perhaps they did not consider
the fact that they would be operating their first six months in the winter
season, which so soon after the war would have been very slow. The café
- restaurant closed January 1949 and the cinema followed on 21st May 1949.

The Clifton circuit soon took over the cinema and after refurbishment was
reopened on 8th May 1950 with Pinky. There were 443 seats and RCA
sound and the café was reopened They would install a wide screen 9' by
15' within the proscenium of 19' during the 1950s but to compete with the
Gaumont they would install CinemaScope in 1960 removing the proscenium
and the clock that had been set into the proscenium was moved to the
back of the auditorium. This allowed for a 11' by 21' screen, with a 22'
proscenium. However the seasonal nature of the resort and that Clifton
were now operating the former Gaumont resulted in closure for bingo in
October 1964. The last show was Nothing but the Best and The Man from
Galeston. However a powercut resulted in a full refund for the audience.
Bingo commenced on 27th November 1964. The restaurant became a club
but later became industrial premises. Happily this closure proved only
temporary and come the new season films recommenced on 11th April 1965.

In 1983 the resident managers Dennis and Joan Tuffin took
over the cinema from the remains of the Clifton circuit and on
20th May 1984 became the Pendle Stairway (to the stars)
cinema. They continued to operate the cinema until closure,
but with low attendances the cinema had gradually
deteriorated, highlighted when the BBC's Watchdog
programme identified it as one of the worst cinemas in Britain
in 1997. It has to be said that advertising was almost non
existent and it was quite possible to walk straight past the
cinema without noticing it, as it had no exterior signage. The
cinema finally had to close in February 2003 as the cost of
urgently needed repairs to the roof and rewiring were too high.

Luckily the local community were determined not to lose their
last full time cinema and started a campaign to save the
cinema. The sum needed for the repairs was £13,000. Local
man Roy Filer loaned the campaign £5000 and North Devon
District Council matched it. The local campaign soon found
the other £3000 and after repairs the cinema could reopen.

The Cornish cinema operator Merlin, run by Geoff Greaves
purchased the cinema at the beginning of 2006, closing it on
19.01.2006 with King Kong. Then started an ambitious project
to convert the cinema into three screens. The odd layout as
previously described has resulted in an unconventional
subdivision. First to open was a screen in the former balcony
area with a new projection box. Then the former rear stalls
area was boxed in to create the second screen with the
screens projection box set onto the back of the screen wall of
the balcony screen, therefore set halfway down the length of
the second screen where the ceiling height is greater as it is
clear of the balcony above the rear seation. The third screen
which occupies the front stalls and stage area has a projection
box again set onto the front of the balcony screens front wall,
immediately above the projection box for the second screen.
The first screen opened on 26th may 2006 with Poseidon, the
second screen opening a week later. The former cafe area on
the ground floor has been opened up once again to create a
spacious foyer area and room for a cafe or eatery.

The Landmark arts centre on Wilder Road is a very unusual
design by London architect Tim Ronalds. Built with £4.5
million, of lottery money, it replaced the Victoria Pavilion
an iron and glass structure that had been battered by the
North Devon weather into a state of disrepair.

Each cone is 22.5 metres high and the structure is made
from 300,000 Belgian white bricks. The centre opened in
April 1998. The building is run by North Devon Theatres
Trust, a charity and contains a 483 seat theatre that
converts into a 360 seat cinema to show mostly art house
films.

Designed by Southport architect George E Tonge, the
Scala Theatre was by far the finest cinema in
Ilfracombe. The building was started by Mr E R Hancock,
but with failing health passed to James P Moore just
before his death in October 1920. The cinema opened
20th December 1920. But other parts of the building
were unfinished. The café upstairs and lounge ballroom
downstairs, plus roof garden opened 18th May 1921. A
large organ had been installed in March 1921.

The facade was grand but somewhat typical of the
period. There was a large central entrance with an arch
window over the top. To either side was shop units.
The foyer featured a grand staircase leading to the café
above. The exterior was in Hathern ware. The
auditorium could seat about 1000. It was the opening of
the Scala that made Albany Ward rebuild the Palace, and
in 1923 he further squeezed the Scala management by
operating the Alexandra Theatre. The Scala closed 28th
February 1925.

Albany Ward Theatres took control and reopened the
cinema on 13th July 1925. It was closed through the
winter but reopened 22nd February 1926 and this is
when the Palace closed and the Scala would become
Albany Ward's cinema in Ilfracombe. British Acoustic
sound would soon be installed. Passing through
Provincial Cinematograph Theatres and Gaumont British
control the cinema was renamed Gaumont 10th
December 1949.

CinemaScope was installed within the existing
proscenium 23' by 10' but by 1957 the cinema was closed
for the winter season. The cinema was taken over by
Clifton, who also operated the Embassy and was
renamed Clifton 28th June 1964. To help make the
cinema pay, a second screen was added in the disused
ballroom in the basement, with the kitchen becoming
the projection room. 16mm films were projected
through the old serving hatch. The first film was
Cabaret.

During the winters, the main auditorium closed and the
16mm cinema continued year round. By the 1970s
bingo was tried in winter months on several nights a
week but this ended in 1977, and the cinema would
then completely close in winter. Clifton 2 closed 3rd
September 1980 with Night Games and Confessions of
the David Galaxy Affair. The main cinema finally closed
31th October 1981 with Kentucky Fried Movie and
Adventures of a Plumbers Mate. The building was
demolished in 1983. The site is now Clifton flats