Coronet Cinema
Woodville Road, Cathays,
Cardiff,
CF24
Woodville Road, Cathays,
Cardiff,
CF24
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Coronet Electric Theatre, Cosy Coronet Cinema, New Coronet Cinema
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Built in 1913 the Coronet Electric Theatre was a simple one floor hall for which plans survive but very little else. It had a proscenium which was 16feet wide.
Known as the Cosy Coronet Cinema in 1924 it was later re-furbished and became the New Coronet Cinema.
When the local press carried large amounts of cinema advertising and a review page, the Coronet hardly ever advertised its programme and must have had loyal local patrons from the Cathays area who supported the Coronet which had been a family-run business from the early 1930’s.
Regular advertising appears by the 1950’s re-runs were the usual fare shown on a "Panoramic" screen (though this may not have been CinemaScope based on the films advertised)
Advertising suddenly stopped in 1957 and it was reported some time later that the proprietor had been taken ill and a manager had been taken on. However it appears that the business was sold to Jackson Withers and it was closed. It lay derelict for several years and was demolished. In March 1974 a petrol station opened on the site. Today the site has been re-developed for housing.
Contributed by
Geoff
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
In March 1954 the new screen was advertised as “Wide Curved Screen”,but the absence of a planning application suggests that no major alterations were involved.
I visited the Coronet many times in the early 1950s. Seats were 9d and 1/3p. The cinema did have a heavy local patronage especially on Saturday nights.It seemed to specialise in showing old cowboy films.However I do recall watching “John and Julie” twice round on a Saturday some time after the 1953 Coronation. The cinema had one major drawback which was its large arch like roof.It looked just like that of an Anderson shelter and was probably made of the same material. The place was very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. If there was heavy rain it was almost impossible to hear the film sound track. The cinema proscenium did not possess drapes just festoons.I’m fairly certain it was not equipped for cinemascope as the masking was permanently fixed black boarding
My mother was the cashier in the Coronet Cinema, or ‘Coro’ as it was colloquially, known from the early 1950’s until it closed. My father,brother and myself used to go to the ‘Coro’ every Tuesday and Friday, and my brother and I used to go to the Saturday matinee. All complimentary tickets of course! We must have seen every film of that era. It was in the days when not everyone had a TV, and we didn’t. There was no ticket machine in the cash desk, when people bought their tickets my mother would just rip them off a roll hanging on a bit of string. We could walk to the ‘Coro’ in 10 minutes. Happy days!
I do remeber that this cinema advertised as having a “Glass reflective Screen! which I think consisted of very fine particals of powdered glass being used as a screen surfacing process