Queen's Cinema
High Street and Bell Road,
Sittingbourne,
ME10
High Street and Bell Road,
Sittingbourne,
ME10
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previous Names: Queen's Picture Theatre, Queen's Variety Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Up a passage from the lower end of the High Street, the Queen’s Picture Theatre was converted from a brewery and followed the Drill Hall and Empire Cinema as the towns third cinema. Opened on 21st February 1912, the manager later claimed it was the first to use a mirror type of arc lamp. A three piece orchestra was provided initially. It had 450-seats. In the early-1930’s a new entrance foyer was built and the seating capacity in the auditorium was increased to 653-seats with the addition of a balcony.
A month of renovation by Watchester Cinemas took place in 1958. After the Classic Cinemas chain took over the nearby Odeon, films were dropped here in May 1973. It was taken over by local cabaret singer John Travers who built dressing rooms at the rear and in reopened as the Queen’s Variety Theatre, attracting such star names such as Tommy Trinder, Joan Regan & Ruby Murray, but failed to attract audiences and following losses of £100,000 it was closed on 10th April 1976 and put up ‘For Sale’. Ray Sutton from Sheerness hoped to re-open for films, counting on the Classic going over to just a bingo club, but a covenant prevented the re-opening of the Queen’s as a cinema. in 1978.
On 14th February 1980 became a cabaret nightclub named Club Cleo which closed within 3-months. It next became a discotheque name Marteen’s which attracted unruly customers and the magistrates cut back on its operating hours which forced its closure after 6-months of operation. The vacant building then suffered damage from a fire. A new owner carried out repairs and it reopened in 1982 as an upmarket entertainment centre which had closed by 1984. The vacant building was again damaged by fire and another new owner refurbished the building to reopen as a nighclub named Tootsie’s, but a licence to sell alcoholic drinks was refused and it was sold to be demolished. The site became a car park. More details are in John Clancy’s book “Long-gone Cinemas of Swale”(2003).
Contributed by
Martin Tapsell
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
John Clancy in “The Long- gone cinemas of Swale” (2003) says the porch was added between the wars. His books contains extra photos including interior.
Happy memories of seeing 2001 and Planet of the Apes here in 1968.
Watchester Cinemas renovated the Queens ten years earlier than stated. A wide proscenium for scope was installed. I enjoyed very many films here for fifteen years as the Queens had the ABC release e.g Cliff Richard in the Young Ones. That film and others played to full houses. I was a part-time projectionist there when it closed in May 1973. A few weeks before, Cabaret was doing excellent business. Classic bought the Queens and transferred its bingo club to their Vogue bingo club in the former Odeon across the road where they had created two cinemas above the bingo hall.
The Queens was indeed renovated in 1958. It was very popular in school holidays when we queued along the alley from the High Street to see the first Carry On films and TV spin-offs and adventures like Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Ray Harryhousen’s Mysterious Island. Saturday morning pictures introduced us to Will Hay whose films were so funny. When no films were being shown in the former Odeon across the road, the Queens had the pick of the films. Advance booking was necessary for The Sound of Music.