Winter Gardens Cinema

The Coliseum Cinema opened 19th April 1922 with Norm Talmadge in “The Sign of the Door”. The Coliseum Cinema was short-lived, and its name was changed to Winter Gardens Cinema in 1925. It had a stage 40 ft deep and had 6 dressing rooms. The proscenium was 30ft wide. It had a restaurant in the circle foyer and a ballroom under the stalls. By 1930 the ballroom had been converted into a roller rink. The Winter Gardens Cinema was equipped with a Western Electric(WE) sound system in 1930, and it was re-named Winter Gardens Super Sound Cinema. The ballroom became a billiard hall.

In 1956 it was equipped with CinemaScope with a 30ft wide screen. During the 1960’s in the summer months, the cinema showed mostly roadshow films and was full to capacity especially during the rainy days of summer when the holidaymakers and day trippers wanted to get out of the rain. “The Sound of Music” ran for two consecutive summers 1966 and 1967.

The Winter Gardens Cinema closed on 7th February 1982 with a double (X) programme: Linda Ashton in “Cherry, Harry and Raquel” and Erica Gavin in “Vixen” which was directed by Russ Meyer. The cinema became a BMX track for a while and the billiard hall was a nightclub. The building was found to be unsafe and was completely demolished in 1991.

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