Picture Palaces of the Past

Before television kept people at home and the rise of the private car moved cinemas to the edges of town Gloucester city centre supported up to ten picture houses, large and small. Some of them were demolished, some burnt down, some were converted to shops or bingo halls. Not one remains in full-time use as a cinema. For this section we are greatly indebted to Alan Moore and his book 'The Picture Palaces of Gloucester and Cheltenham' which he has generously allowed us to pillage for the pages which follow.

Night Out at the Flicks in Gloucester by Alan Moore

Early cinemas were converted from shops, dance halls, skating rinks and theatres. In Westgate the Royal Albert Hall Theatre became, in 1907, the Kings Hall Picture House. The first city cinema with 800 seats was operated by a family well known on local cinema circles - Merris Pooles famous for their Myrioamas.

In 1909 Godard's Assembly Rooms in Northgate became the Theatre de Luxe. This early cinema also had a pipe organ. In 1922 the building was considerably extended to seat 1200 patrons (four times the original) and in 1934 a Wurlitzer organ was installed. The De Luxe was only the fourth cinema in the country to screen talkies on 18th February 1929. Unfortunately nearly ten years later on 30th January 1939 the cinema was destroyed in a spectacular blaze. It was never re-opened.

On March 11th 1911 the Gloucester Picture Theatre was opened in St Michael's Square, Brunswick Road, converted from the Olympia Skating rink. It was closed on 31st December 1911 and owing to fire regulations not re-opened.

The Theatre Royal in Westgate was re-named Palace and re-opened as a cinema by Pooles on 6th March 1911. This cinema/theatre was closed in 1922, and became the Westgate branch of Woolworths.

The City Cinema in Eastgate also opened in 1911 on 20th June and was converted from the Rising Sun public house. In 1915 the cinema was reconstructed as a theatre and re-named the Hippodrome. In 1922 Pooles acquired the cinema upon sale of the Palace. In 1930 Pooles converted the cinema to talkies and five years later it was closed for major reconstruction and extension. In July 1954 Cinemascope was installed at the Hippodrome, the first city cinema to have it. Disaster struck the cinema on Sunday 23rd October 1955, while the audience were watching Night Raiders of Montana, when fire broke out in the ceiling. Within minutes of evacuation the Hippodrome was an inferno. Pooles however rebuilt the cinema and it reopened on Monday June 18th 1950 with Carousel. Because of a recession in the industry Pooles accepted an offer from the Rank Organisation and on 1st October 1956 they took control. In April 1959 the Hippodrome was renamed the Gaumont and exactly two years later it was, very surprisingly, sold for redevelopment.

In 1914 Gloucester's first purpose-built cinema was opened in Parkend Road, the Empire, or the Parkend Empire as it was known. The locally owned cinema had 350 seats and survived until April 27th 1957, when it was sold to the Elim Pentecostal Church, who still own it nearly 40 years later.

The Palladium in Westgate also opened around this time. It had previously been a cycle arcade and the Upper George Inn. It was always a silent cinema until closure on 12th November 1927. After closure it became a Peacocks store. In 1970 an attempt was made to re-open the building as a cinema, Studio 70, but it was refused planning permission.

The New Olympus Theatre in Lower Barton started life on January 15th 1923 as the Picturedrome, or Palmer's Pictures after its owner. Twenty years later the cinema was acquired with the Mayfair cinema circuit by ABC, Associated British Cinemas. In 1955 the chain installed Cinemascope, modernised the property and renamed it the Ritz. Falling attendances forced its closure on April 8th 1961. However because of the closure of the Gaumont 2 weeks later the owners were asked by the city council to reopen the Ritz. The cinema was reopened by the mayor on June 16th 1961, but it became a bingo club on March 8th 1962 after closure. In 1984 the club closed and the GODS later purchased the cinema and made alterations to the building which reopened on March 17th 1986 as the New Olympus Theatre which remains open today.

On March 25th 1935 Gloucester's first super cinema, with 1,832 seats and called the Plaza, opened in Barton. This cinema had a cafe and all the latest sound and projection equipment. During the war the cinema was used as a theatre with an apron stage. From April 1st 1956 the Rank Organisation, which had a financial interest in the owners, took control of the cinema. On January 21st 1957 the Plaza was renamed the Odeon in line with Rank's policy to rename its cinemas Odeon or Gaumont. In December 1970 Rank applied for a change of use to bingo which was rejected and the application was withdrawn. In 1974 Rank re-applied but although permission for bingo was again refused, the company eventually won their appeal and the Odeon closed as a cinema on August 30th 1975. It became a Top Rank Club in November of that year, which it remains today.

The opening date of the new ABC Regal in Kings Square was delayed by 16 years. Because of the Second World War the new cinema did not open until Monday March 19th 1956 when Gloucester also gained a theatre as the plans were amended to include this facility. The cinema was later on, in 1961, to have its own adjacent Wimpy Bar. In 1963 the Regal became the ABC. Because cinema attendances were continuing to dwindle, major cinemas were being converted to several smaller units to give patrons wider choice. Gloucester's ABC closed on March 1974 and re-opened on 22nd July 1974 as ABC 123 with a 658 seater upstairs and two smaller cinemas on the ground floor. In 1987 the ABC was renamed Cannon after their chain was acquired by this company. Cannon also acquired a chain of Cineplex multiplex cinemas of which one was under construction in Gloucester's Peel Centre. Because of this new complex, the three screen Cannon was no longer needed and its closure came two days before the new multiplex's opening on December 14th 1990.