George Street Cinema

In the centre of Oxford, Oxfordshire, the Cinematograph Theatre opened on 23rd March 1912, following the demolition of Lisemore’s Stores in February 1911. The owners were H. G. Wilson and the Oxford Cinematograph Company.

The 82ft frontage was on George Street, while the 48ft rear façade was on Gloucester Green. The screen was on the west wall, with exits on either side: one into George Street and the other into Gloucester Green.

Although always officially named the Cinematograph Theatre, this soon acquired the unofficial name George Street Cinema, which it ‘adopted’ for newspaper and billboard advertising.

The George Street Cinema maintained a very high reputation in this university city, in particular playing D. W. Griffith’s epic features, including “Intolerance” and “Birth of a Nation”.

An Edibell sound system was installed, but the George Street Cinema closed fairly soon afterwards, on 27th March 1935.

It was quickly demolished, its site being taken up by the entrance to the new Ritz Cinema, which opened in April 1936 (see separate Cinema Treasures entry), a new street (Gloucester Street) and a new Co-operative store.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.