Palace Cinema, Bridport

Heritage listing

Details SY 4692 BRIDPORT SOUTH STREET (East side), Bridport 1/10006 Number 35, Palace Cinema and flanking shops GV II Cinema, formerly the Electric Palace, and opera house, with pair of shops to front. 1926 for the Palmer brewing family. Steel frame clad in brick on land-locked site, roof not seen. Cinema entered down passage between shops in two-storey front range, which opens to form forecourt under glazed canopy. Cinema with stage, single small balcony and small staircase foyer. EXTERIOR. Six bay front, the central two bays projecting slightly under slightly raised parapet over passage entrance, and with continuous cornice band. Casement windows to first floor. Shops have angled fronts to street and passage, retaining original leaded upper glazing, and corner columns on deep plinth. Passage with segmental arch, terrazzo flooring incorporating the words 'PASSAGE ENTRANCE' and arrow, with queueing rails and gates at rear. Cinema has four pairs of doors set between square columns under dentil moulded cornice, and external paybox, an unusual feature in Britain. Rest of facade obscured by glazed roof linking it to shops. INTERIOR. Foyer, now with internal kiosk, has terrazzo floor and staircase with lincrusta balustrade and timber handrail leading to first floor balcony. The foyer is remarkable for its collection of 1930s murals, by George Byles, a pub sign painter for Palmers, and now a unique example of a semi-vernacular form of decoration once common in semi-public buildings of this period. Hanging lights also an original feature. Auditorium with barrel-vaulted roof and giant pilaster order on side walls. Urn moulding in tympanum over stage end. Balcony with two rear boxes, and moulded swag decoration on balcony front. Projection facilities, unusually, in box under bal

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.