Christian Centre

This building is a cinema and theatre, now a Christian centre with retail space on the ground floor. It was built in 1934 by W.H. Watkins and E. Morgan Wilmott, with assistance from A. Stuart Gray. The architectural style is a hybrid of Moderne and classical influences. The structure is steel-framed, faced with Bath stone and incorporating brick internal walls. It has hollow concrete floors and an asphalt roof. Metal windows are present throughout.

The exterior features a classical façade, notable for its tetrastyle Corinthian corner entrance with attached columns extending to the first and second floors. There are seven-bay returns to both Southgate Street and St James's Parade, with shops at ground floor level; the shopfront and internal features of the unit at No.4 St James’s Parade remain original. Large first-floor windows create a balcony lounge and stalls foyer.

The interior includes an entrance vestibule and hall with fluted pilasters, terrazzo flooring, veneered doors, and a panelled dado. The first-floor foyer is distinguished by tall vases decorated with French-inspired Moderne motifs. A former café contains panels depicting figural groups. The auditorium has a wide, free-spanning balcony that conceals lighting from the rim of a central dome with a sunray burst at its centre. Spandrels in the auditorium display heraldic shields representing Taunton, Wells, Glastonbury, and Cirencester. Classical decoration is present, including figural friezes on the side walls; ornamental grilles flank the proscenium arch with concealed lighting coves, surmounted by the arms of the City of Bath. Pendant lighting features elaborate Art Deco candelabra. The upper floor previously served as a ballroom with a sprung floor and engaged columns.

The Forum was constructed as a theatre/cinema by Watkins, a specialist in cinema design, and represents his best-preserved work, originally accommodating 1600 people. The roof's complex structure incorporates innovative cantilevered trusses to support the balcony. While equipped with a shallow stage and lacking a fly-tower, it was still suitable for live performances. The building was later converted into a bingo hall in the early 1960s and closed in 1966. In 1986, a plan to convert the ground floor to retail use was proposed, and in 1988, Nicholas Stubbs architects restored the interior when adapting the building for its current use as an evangelical Christian centre. It remains an exceptionally complete example of an Art Deco cinema, notable for its elaborate and carefully preserved auditorium, and constitutes the best surviving example of the work of William Henry Watkins, a leading cinema architect in the South West.