In the 4th edition of Isle of Wight cinemas, Island Echo takes a nostalgic look back at the 4 cinemas that once graced the streets of Cowes and East Cowes.
There have been no cinemas in either Cowes and East Cowes for well over half a century.
The cinemas in the twin towns were the 1st on the Island to disappear. The final cinema in The Bay area closed in 2000, and Ventnor’s cinema shut its doors for a final time in 1980. But it was almost 20 years before this that Cowes’ last cinema screened its final film in 1961.
Those familiar with local history are aware that 2 cinemas operated in North Wight: Royalty in Cowes and Kings in East Cowes. But did you know that 2 further cinemas from the silent film era predated Royalty and Kings?
Poole’s Picture Theatre (Medina Road, Cowes)
Poole’s Picture Theatre had been Poole’s Panorama before the coming of moving images. Huge pictures – painted on cloth or canvas and wound on rollers – were exhibited there. A lecturer would talk about each picture and use his baton to show items of particular interest.
With the coming of silent movies around the turn of the 20th century, Poole’s Panorama was transformed into Poole’s Picture Theatre. A lone pianist would provide musical accompaniment to the films shown there.
Poole’s Picture Theatre closed around 1922 when the then state-of-the-art Royalty Cinema came to Cowes.
The former Poole’s building was blitzed in 1942 and subsequently disappeared under the premises of Ratsey and Lapthorn. No trace of the cinema remains.
Empire Theatre (St Mary’s Road, Cowes)
The Empire Theatre was up and running from at least 1912. The lowest admission fee for children was just tuppence, and children were given a bag of sweets during Saturday matinee shows.
Like in Poole’s Picture Theatre, a pianist would play accompanying music to the film action and also like the other early cinema in Cowes, the establishment of the Royalty resulted in its closure.
An elderly Cowes resident recorded her memories of the Empire Theatre in 1983.
She said:
“We used to go down St Mary’s Road to the Empire Cinema ‘cos it was only a penny to go in Saturday afternoons. We used to see Charlie Chaplin there. There was a bloke on the piano; that was your orchestra!
“Part the way through, they’d have something on the stage and this particular time, I shall never forget, it was “Lady Little.” She was only a little lady and I can see her now. She was beautifully dressed and the bloke took her up the balcony and she walked round this balcony, a miniature lady!
“Yes, I used to enjoy that penn’orth on a Saturday afternoons.”
Newspaper archives record the visit of a ‘Lady Little’ to the Empire in 1913. She was described in the non-politically correct language of the time as ‘a charming little dwarf’ and was said to have been the tiniest woman in the world at that time.
Apparently, Lady Little attracted crowded attendances at all her performances. Although over 20 years old, she was said to have been a mere 23 inches in height and 10¾ lb in weight.
Oddly, contemporary newspaper cuttings claim she was inundated with offers of marriage during her sojurn in Cowes.
The Empire is now home to Spencer Rigging.
The Royalty Cinema (Birmingham Road, Cowes)
The Royalty, which opened in 1922 (another source says 1919), was then the latest thing in 1920s cinema technology.
Rather than just the single pianist, it boasted a 3 or 4-piece orchestra. The Royalty also had 4 boxes – 2 at the back of the pit and 2 screened-off corners at the front of the circle.
In the 1920s, the Royalty’s cheapest, uncushioned seats sold at just sixpence (2.5p). The dearest seats were 2 shillings and 9 pence (14p).
The Royalty was originally owned by Cowes Cinemas Ltd before being sold to Isle of Wight Theatres in 1936.
With limited evening entertainment, locals and visiting sailors had little choice but to go to the only cinema in town: The Royalty. However, the coming of television reduced the demand for cinemas and it finally closed in 1961.
It was then converted into a Lipton’s supermarket and a Social Club. The building was later demolished and the site redeveloped as flats.
King’s Cinema (Castle Road, East Cowes)
The one and only East Cowes cinema (to the best of our knowledge) once stood at the corner of Castle Street and Church Path (now Well Road).
King’s Cinema opened in 1935 with Wallace Beery in Treasure Island. It had 800 seats in stalls and circle levels and was owned by Isle of Wight Theatres Ltd. It had 800 seats in stalls and circle levels.
1 of the peculiarities of King’s was that it was a ‘reverse’ cinema, with the screen at the front of the building. Another was that it often flooded leaving patrons with wet feet.
The cinema was closed in the late 1950s and occupied by Saunders Roe, British Hovercraft Corporation and finally GKN Aerospace. The cinema building was subsequently demolished and replaced by a Waitrose supermarket that opened in November 2010.
The area in front of Waitrose is known as King’s Square in honour of the former cinema that once graced the site of the supermarket.
Sadly, there are no images of any of these former cinemas from the time when movies were actually screened. If anyone has an image available, please post in the comments…
In the 5th edition of Isle of Wight cinemas, we shall look at the silver screens of the South Wight town of Ventnor…
Liptons Supermarket; gosh, I forgot about them.
Didn’t there used to be one next door to the old HMV in Newport?
The old Royalty Cinema building became the Cue Ball Snooker Club for a bit in the mid 80’s, they showed Bruno v Tyson in 1989, beamed it in from Las Vegas using the company Satellite TV, which later became Sky TV!