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Touched by greatness: The history of St Paul’s forgotten cinema
The recent news that the former site of the historic Broadway Cinema in Knowle West has been approved for homes is not only a reminder of how vulnerable Bristol’s independent cinemas are to change, but also of the ongoing need to preserve the history of these cultural institutions.
Not long ago, Bristol used to have 61 cinemas. Today only a handful remain. Many were destroyed in the Blitz while others were demolished and replaced by new buildings.
The Metropole Cinema in St Paul’s was one of them. Opened in 1913 by the Eastville Hippodrome Co. Ltd, and headed by George Allen, the Metropole had 700 seats, all on a single floor.
is needed now More than ever
In 1937, the cinema was enlarged under the plans of architect W.H. Watkins, to a capacity of 1,460 seats in stalls and circle levels.
Actor Cary Grant was probably the cinema’s most famous visitor. In his 1963 autobiography, the actor, who was born in Horfield in Bristol wrote:
“My father, on the other hand, since he respected the value of money, because he worked hard and long hours to get it, took me to a less pretentious, less expensive, though larger, cinema called the Metropole; a drafty barnlike structure in those days with hard seats and bare floors on which we could stamp at the villain and keep our feet warm at the same time. It smelled of raincoats and galoshes, and no tea or pastry forks. Yet it was, of the two, my favourite place.
The cinema was later a Bingo club before being reverted to a cinema again – photo: maps.Bristolgov
The Metropole reopened as the Metropole De Lux Cinema on January 31, 1938, showing Call It a Day with Olivia de Havilland and History Is Made at Night with Charles Boyer.
The cinema soon reverted back to its original name of Metropole Cinema and was taken over by the Star Cinemas chain in September 1967, operating as a part-time cinema/bingo operation.
It eventually closed in 1968 and was completely converted into a Star Bingo Club which closed at the end of 1974.
Yet only three years later, the cinema reopened again as Metropole de Luxe Cinema in 1977, screening classics such as Charlton Heston in Earthquake.
By March 1978 the cinema had also begun screening Indian Bollywood films.
Yet the buzz was not to last. The cinema finally closed for good in 1980 and the building was boarded up before being demolished.
Today Bupa Dental Care stands in the old cinema’s location. Before that it was the betting chain, Coral. Despite being demolished, indications of the cinema remain in the current retro red brick facade.
Main photo: John Maltby / RIBA Collections
Read more:
- 15 places in Bristol that used to be cinemas
- Bristol’s oldest multi-story: ‘more than a car park’
- The church hidden above the shops
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