Gem Cinema

In Tring, Hertfordshire, this purpose-built Gem Cinema replaced the existing Gem Picture Hall, which had occupied the former Unity Hall in High Street (see separate Cinema Treasures entry).

The new Gem Cinema opened on Tuesday 1st August 1916. Unfortunately, the proprietor, P. J. Darvell, had been taken aback when fellow exhibitor William Wilson, who had also noted the success of the Gem Picture Hall, opened his Empire Picture Theatre in July 1916 (see separate Cinema Treasures entry). Mr Darvell felt that a town of some 4,400 residents could only support one cinema and, even though both cinemas were of a similar seating capacity, he appeared to be more fearful of the competition than Mr Wilson.

In the event, his fears appear to have been well-founded, as the Gem Cinema only lasted until the early-1920’s.

(As it turned out, Mr Darvell might have received some grim satisfaction in 1936, when the next cinema, the Regal Cinema, arrived in the town, and, as a direct result, the Empire Picture Theatre, by then the Gaiety Cinema, closed a few years later.)

The Gem Cinema building was demolished. By the mid-1980’s the site, opposite the end of Henry Street, was occupied by United Dairies. More recently it has become home to On the Limit Gym and Royal Mail Delivery Office.

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