Former Empress Cinema

The Former Empress Cinema is a building dating from 1913, designed for Messrs Good Brothers, impressarios, by an unknown architect. It is constructed of brick with a rendered facade that features stone decorations. The cinema has a low foyer that runs parallel to the shops on the street, behind which is a double-height auditorium set at a slight angle to the street.

The main facade is a tripartite design, with a higher central section that includes a raised parapet supported by four Ionic columns above a projecting balcony. The windows behind this area, which lead to the projection box, were boarded up at the time of inspection. The rest of the upper facade is blind, featuring a lower parapet and an Ionic pilaster at each end. A dentiled string course and band adorn the lower facade, with windows flanking paired double doors.

Inside, the auditorium features a double-height space with a shallow balcony at the rear. It has a barrel-vaulted roof and side walls decorated with rich plasterwork in panels, including pilasters with rosettes and swags. A deep moulded cornice and frieze run around the entire auditorium. The cyma curved balcony front ends in projecting circular sections that were originally designed as boxes. The proscenium is partially obscured by a later canopy but still retains pilasters on either side.

The Former Empress Cinema is notable for its unusually elaborate design as an early cinema, with exceptionally rich surviving plasterwork, which is particularly remarkable for a small cinema located in a suburban area.