Gaumont Palace/Mecca

Former cinema, built 1931-2 for the Gaumont Palace/Albany Ward/Provincial Cinematograph Theatres consortium. Designed by architect William Henry Watkins with job architect Percy Bartlett. Built by McLaughlin and Harvey. The building is constructed in brown brick, stone and render.

The cinema occupies an unusual courtyard setting accessed from North Street. A screen wall closes off the courtyard and maintains the building line along the street. The auditorium with balcony and stage sits behind a curved foyer.

The ground level features double gates of scrolling metal flanked by stone walls with panels for film advertisement posters. Above the gates is an illuminated canopy. The upper level of the screen wall is rendered in brick and stone, treated as superimposed square panels flanked by fluted pilasters topped with stylised Ionic capitals. At the centre is a tall narrow area of render, which once displayed an illuminated sign with the cinema's name.

The cinema's symmetrical façade combines subdued Classicism with Moderne features. The design comprises a recessed central area with a single-storey entrance breaking forward between two towers set at angles. The towers stand on moulded plinths with vertical features enclosing four square windows separated by panels of superimposed squares. Each tower has a broad stepped frieze capped by a large pyramid roof. The recessed area between the towers carries a horizontal Moderne window divided into square and rectangular sections, enclosed by a broad frame with metal glazing in small square panes. The towers extend back to meet the rear wall of the auditorium. The return and stage walls contain exit doors and windows serving hallways, stairwells and lavatories.

The interior features a curved foyer in Moderne style with streamlined ceiling mouldings and a cornice incorporating simplified triglyphs. A stylised Ionic capital survives from a series that formerly surmounted mirrors and advertising frames, now gone.

The large, almost square auditorium is of the stadium type, with stepping at the rear instead of a supported balcony. A large saucer dome enlivens the ceiling with fluting. At its centre is a subsidiary dome with an elaborate rose of scrolling plaster. The main ceiling's corner angles are decorated with roundels surrounding lunettes bordered by simplified rinceau. The stage stands behind a proscenium set before three superimposed coves with ornamented frames. Narrow splayed ante-proscenium walls carry tall slender niches with inset tops and frames of scallop and wave mouldings. The dado opens into short aisles, while the string is detailed with a Moderne moulding loosely based on the Greek fret. Side walls are framed by rusticated pilasters which turn ninety degrees to form a border beneath the cornice. Entry to the auditorium is via two side vomitories with swing double-doors retaining original door furniture and small octagonal glazed apertures.

This is a large super cinema of the 1930s with much surviving decoration. The courtyard planning is unusual, dictated by the inability to build a show façade to the main street. The building has served as a bingo club since 1963.