Majestic Cinema

The Majestic Cinema first opened its doors on May 26, 1928 with Ramon Navaro in “Ben Hur”. It seated 1,149 in stalls and single balcony and had been designed by local Kings Lynn architects J.L. Carnell and W.D. White. An extremely elegant cinema with much polished mahogany and a delightful mosaic floor incorporating the Majestic name in the foyer. Other decorative features include many stained-glass windows. Additional facilities at the Majestic Cinema were a ballroom and cafe.

It was built as an independent but was taken over by Union Cinemas in 1934 and then became part of ABC Theatres when Union was bought out by ABC. It was however never renamed as ABC’s main house in the town was the Theatre Royal.

It was sold to an independent again in 1975 and on June 25, 1977 Majestic 2 opened with 198 seats in the former ballroom. In 2000 this was refurbished with seating reduced to 136 and it is now known as screen 3.

In 1991 the auditorium was twinned creating a 400-seat cinema (screen 2) in the circle, which was extended forward to the proscenium. The stalls became the 450-seat screen 1. Current seating capacities (in 2008) are for 313, 301 and 123. In the early-2020’s a 4th screen with 44-seats was added. Seating capacities in 2024 are 290, 249, 113 & 44.

Since 2001, the Majestic Cinema has been designated a Grade II Listed building, as much of the interior decoration survives. It narrowly avoided demolition in 2000.

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

Ken Roe on September 3, 2006 at 7:37 pm

A recent close-up of the entrance and a beautiful night view of the Majestic Cinema Centre can be seen here:
View link

Ian on January 8, 2007 at 12:00 pm

More pictures of the Majestic here:–

http://flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/350405367/

http://flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/350405365/

http://flickr.com/photos/12494104@N00/350405364/

CSWalczak on November 1, 2010 at 3:42 pm

There are several pictures on the theater’s official website: []http://www.majestic-cinema.co.uk/gallery/cinema+frontage]](http://www.majestic-cinema.co.uk/gallery/cinema+frontage)

Mike_Blakemore on November 11, 2011 at 11:00 am

I have loaded a pic of earlier Days. I did a 16 Day Relief (Management) in the 1970’s Saturday night The Ballroom was very loud. and had to work later.

Ian on November 28, 2014 at 9:30 am

Correction to above text – a wall was not dropped to the front of the balcony, a horizontal sub-divison at balcony level took place to create the two cinemas in the original auditorium.

Photos from November 2014:– EXTERIOR

FOYER

SCREEN 1

SCREEN 2

Treasurehunt on January 15, 2015 at 8:08 pm

My Grandfather, Ernest, Ralph, Adams, built and owned the Majestic cinema in King’s Lynn, working closely with the architects in it’s design. He bought the interior of the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London, before it was demolished. The wonderful mirrors and panelling from which were restored before being fitted into the Majestic. He later became a Director of both Union and ABC Cinemas.

Buffer on March 25, 2016 at 5:35 pm

What about the tower- the most prominent feature?. Has the space inside being used for any purpose?

Mike_Blakemore on March 25, 2016 at 8:30 pm

Most of the Tower was an emergency staircase for the projection box and taking a flow from the Ballroom. The Clock was a slave type ran from the Managers Office

Ian on July 15, 2019 at 9:22 am

Further photos of the interior taken in July 2019 here:–

MAJESTIC – SCREEN 1

MAJESTIC – SCREEN 2

MAJESTIC – SCREEN 3

MAJESTIC – FOYER