Victoria Cinema

In the small town of Lye, situated two miles east of Stourbridge, in the West Midlands, the Victoria Cinema opened on 5th January 1914.

County Councillor J. T. Worton, a local draper, officiated, and recalled past amusements in the town, in particular cock-fighting and bull-baiting.

This purpose-built hall had been constructed quite quickly, in the last two months of 1913, by Joseph Heathcock. The auditorium was clad in corrugated iron, but there was an imposing frontage, built of brick but clad in plaster.

There was seating for 800 patrons in stalls and balcony. There was an orchestra, led by H. Duffell. The projection box was located at the back of the stalls seating area, beneath the balcony seating area

By the autumn of 1915 Edward Lucas and Walter Williams, from Cradley Heath, were running the Victoria Cinema, but two years later Jack Arnold was presenting plays, plus films as part of variety shows. He appears to have continued into the 1920’s, and from November 1931 to April 1934 Sidney Bray was showing films full-time. But, from the 1920’s to closure, the picture is far from clear, with periods of live entertainment interspersed with periods of film entertainment.

The final appearance of the Victoria Cinema in the Kinematograph Year Books was in 1942. By that time, it was being operated by Lye Entertainments Ltd., and was offering “Pictures and Variety”. The proscenium was 17ft wide, the stage was 25ft deep and there were three dressing rooms. The seating capacity had reduced to 600.

Having said that, local reminiscences suggest the Victoria Cinema was still showing films in the early-1950’s, renamed the Old Vic Cinema.

Certainly, by the early-1960’s it was (or had been) in use as a rollerdrome and a dance hall, and it might have been on bingo for a short while, before demolition caught up with the building in 1964. A Spar supermarket was built on the site.

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