Sawston Cinema

Located in Sawston, Cambridgeshire. A rare example of a village cinema. Sawston Paper Mill owner Henry Spicer funded Sawston College, but was keen for the village to have a proper cinema to replace a chapel. However Cambridge Education Committee would not permit a commercial cinema to operate within a college hall. So Spicer built it next to the college! The cinema opened on the 8th September 1932. The building of brick with Ketton stone dressing was partially raked to allow dancing and outside a blue neon sign “Spicers Theatre”.

After closure on August 31st 1963, the cinema may have been a car showroom before becoming a youth club for the village college by 1973. Now surrounded by other buildings it is 100 yards from Cambridge Road on the east side of the college.

It re-opened as a community cinema in 2010, now re-named Sawston Cinema.

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

Buffer on June 27, 2015 at 8:05 am

The cinema was designed by GP Banyard and seated 288

robboehm on June 27, 2015 at 9:53 am

Uploaded three pictures from the Sawston Cinema, Sawston Village College site: exterior, interior, article on repurposing of the theater.