Grand Cinema

The Grand Cinema is a former cinema constructed in 1922, located on Poole Road, Westbourne, Bournemouth. It is a building of group value, representing an early example of a "super cinema" from the 1920s.

The building is largely constructed of rendered brick with a steel frame, topped with a steeply pitched slate roof over the auditorium. The foyer roof is not visible. The principal facade is a neo-classical two-storey, five-bay design, rising to a third storey over the central bay. The central bay features the main entrance, flanked by shop units. A canopy extends along the facade, with a segmental rise over the centre. The first floor is characterized by channelled rustication, featuring triple-light plate-glass sash windows in the four outer bays, and a forward-projecting central bay with three sets of paired, smaller windows, also with plate-glass sashes. A full entablature, decorated with cruciform ornament, sits above the facade. The attic storey has paired windows and a broken pediment, flanked by funerary urns, and surmounted by a figurative sculpture of a female figure. Original lettering identifies the building as "THE GRAND CINEMA," with older lettering below the attic windows reading "GRAND." Three steps lead to the entrance.

Inside, a foyer provides access to a rectangular, double-height auditorium. The walls, above a dado, are divided into bays with pilasters, each featuring late 20th-century paintings depicting mountain scenes, Rome, Boulter's Lock on the River Thames, and other views. An embellished frieze is above a complex cornice, which in turn defines a barrel ceiling divided into sections by curving members, containing roundels. An elaborate proscenium is complemented by an entablature and tablet, partially obscured by a late 20th-century panel depicting galleons at sea. The stage has been blocked off for bingo use. The balcony is straight-fronted but adorned with medallions and scrolls.

The cinema retains an unspoilt facade, an unaltered plan, and significant surviving internal decoration. It operated as a bingo club from approximately 1977.