County Cinema
5-11 Cawston Road,
Aylsham,
NR11 6BX
5-11 Cawston Road,
Aylsham,
NR11 6BX
1 person
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In the north Norfolk town of Aylsham the County Cinema was opened on 15th September 1937 by Lady Walpole of Wolterton, with “Rhodes of Africa”, starring Walter Huston.
This was the bold venture of local businessmen J. B. Postle, J. F. Bond, Lord Walpole and R. Wolsey, who formed the Aylsham Cinema Company under the managing directorship of Victor Harrison (who also operated V.E.H. Cinemas).
The cinema was built by Aylsham builder J. W. Palmer.
In 1954 CinemaScope was installed - before it reached the county town of Norwich.
However, the County Cinema succumbed to dwindling audiences in September 1960, when it closed after a screening of “The Best of Everything”, starring Hope Lange and Stephen Boyd. The following year Norfolk County Council purchased the building for £3,150 at a public auction for conversion into a youth centre.
When I visited, in October 2000, the building was boarded up. However, Google Street View indicates that it has since been brought back to life, perhaps as offices (there’s no obvious signage). In 2019 it was converted into the Drill Hall Gymnasium and the County name was restored on the building.
Contributed by
David Simpson
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The County signage has been restored, it’s now the Drill Hall Gym
Robert Bond was the architect of this cinema, along with several more in the same area built to the same plans.