The Palace Cinema, Bedford

Information from Hilary McDonald, 2013, as part of Bedford Central Library 'Times Past Bedford Cinema's Project'

The Palace Cinema, 1935 [ref: X373/51/1-2]

Percy E. Felce, on behalf of Bedford Palace Ltd. first applied for a cinematograph licence in 1911 and Bedford’s second cinema, The Palace opened the following year on 6th April 1912. It was centrally located on the corner of the High Street and Silver Street - previously the site of the Chequers Inn, a 17th century hostelry which had been completely rebuilt in 1888 as a red brick four storey building. The new cinema was essentially a conversion of the 19th building retaining much of the exterior.

Inside was a different story: an auditorium with front and back stalls (there was no balcony), the very latest in ventilation systems installed for the comfort of patrons, oak panelling, a thick Wilton carpet, velvet stage curtains and gilt and velvet tip-up seats. The main colour theme throughout was blue which contrasted with the red shades of the wall-lamps. The reporter from the Bedfordshire Mercury was impressed with this luxurious and harmonious new picture theatre staffed by commissionaires and programme girls and boys in smart uniforms.

The cinema, under the managership of Mr A. C. Clements, opened on Saturday 6th April at 3.00pm. To mark the occasion, the entrance was decorated with palms and flowers from Laxton Bros. of the High Street. A lengthy queue formed and the cinema played to a packed house for the rest of the day with a programme of drama, comedy and education. That week, advertising in the Bedfordshire Mercury, the Palace congratulated itself on an opening week of ‘tremendous success’ at ‘the picture playhouse of comfort, refinement and courtesy’.

It had been a race between the Empire Cinema on Midland Road, owned by the Blakes and the Palace as to which opened first in 1912.  Bulletins in the local press gave progress reports. Apparently the Blakes had wanted to name their picture house the Palace too. The Blake’s Empire Cinema eventually had its debut a few weeks later on 27th May 1912. In the meantime, the Blakes’s cinema interests lay with the Picturedrome on the Embankment, which they leased from the Chetham family to programme. The week of the Palace’s opening, advertisements for the rival Picturedrome, blared, ‘Blake’s Pictures: the ultimate choice. St George and the Dragon…. Like all their pictures, it is in good taste and free from objectionable features’. This did not sway audiences who continued to patronise the Palace. On Whit Monday 1912, audience figures reached 2000.

From the start, The Palace was known for its continuous screen performances which included Pathe’s Gazette showing the latest news bulletins, and its split week performances changing on Mondays and Thursdays. Patrons also benefited from the Palace Tearooms on the first floor at 58 High Street. Music was part of the cinema entertainment. Two pianists were engaged when it opened and advertisements announced that an orchestra would accompany the screening. In that silent films era, other noises off were apparently sometimes provided by the management. Touchstone, writing in the Bedfordshire Times recalled a rumour that for Wild West films, Palace Manger Bill Kettles and his son Patrick created ingenious sound effects when required… galloping horses for example.

The Blake’s acquired the cinema in the 1920s. Its early success did not last, particularly after another of the Blake’s cinemas, the Granada, opened in December 1934. The Palace closed quite suddenly without much comment in the local press, in March 1936. The Bedfordshire Times and Independent, 20th March 1936 noted briefly, ‘Today and tomorrow are the last days of the Palace’. The cinema was demolished and Palace Chambers was erected on the site during 1936 and the year following. At no. 58 High Street, The 50 Shilling Tailor set up. 

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• X373/51/1-2: Palace Cinema just before closure, 1936
• BTNegOB88/8-11: The views show the site of the former Palace Cinema on the corner of the High Street and Silver Street. , 1936
• X824/3: Display panel showing then and now pictures inc. Palace Cinema, 1993