For more than seventy years, the Plaza Cinema stood on Bangor’s High Street as one of the city’s best-loved landmarks, remembered for classic films, big-screen cinema nights and the simple excitement of going to see the latest release.
For generations, the Plaza Cinema became synonymous with Bangor itself - a place as much about shared moments and memories as it was about what was showing on screen, quietly adapting to changing times before eventually disappearing altogether.
Its story begins with the demolition of the Arcadia Cinema in 1930, a moment that created both an opportunity and a problem. The council, keen to widen the High Street, took advantage of the clearance, leaving behind a narrow strip of land that sloped sharply upwards and ended in a steep cliff. It was an awkward and unpromising site for a new cinema, but rather than seeing it as a limitation, the architects found a way to make it work.
They designed the building in reverse. The entrance sat at street level, while the stage and screen were positioned above the foyer, closest to the road. The natural slope of the land was used to form the rake of the stalls, improving sightlines and reducing the need for expensive excavation into the hillside. Corridors, staircases and passageways on both sides of the hall provided access up to the balcony. It was a clever, practical solution, and one that most people walking through the doors would never have thought twice about.
Delays caused by these challenges meant the cinema did not open until August 1934. It had originally been intended to open as the Capitol, but instead welcomed its first audiences as the Plaza Cinema. From the outset, it was a modern venue, equipped with an R.C.A. Photophone sound system and seating for 1,048 patrons. Ticket prices ranged from one to two shillings, and programmes were shown continuously, with daily matinees forming part of the routine. Owned by Saronie Enterprises, the Plaza quickly established itself as Bangor’s principal cinema, a place where people went not just to watch films but to spend time together.
In 1946, control passed to Guy Baker’s Paramount Picture Theatres Ltd., bringing with it the first increase in ticket prices since opening. Even so, the Plaza remained at the centre of Bangor’s social life, continuing to keep pace with developments in cinema technology. In 1956, CinemaScope was installed, introducing widescreen films and reducing the seating slightly to 980 in order to improve viewing angles. By the end of the decade, regular matinees had been scaled back to holiday periods, when visitors to the area boosted audience numbers.
Like many cinemas, the Plaza did not rely on film alone. From April 1964 it began hosting monthly wrestling shows, along with occasional concerts, widening its appeal and making use of the space in different ways. These changes reflected a broader shift in how such venues operated as television began to compete for attention at home.
A more significant transformation came following the death of Guy Baker, when Hutchinsons Leisure took over the building. A bingo licence was obtained and the interior was altered to suit changing demand. The stalls were converted into a bingo hall, while the balcony was divided into two separate cinema screens, seating 310 and 178 respectively. The Plaza was no longer the large, single auditorium it had once been, but these changes allowed it to continue operating at a time when many similar venues were closing their doors.
By the early 1990s, the bingo operation had come to an end and attention returned fully to cinema use. After ownership passed to Apollo Leisure, a major refurbishment was carried out in 1992, with new seating, carpets, lighting and curtains installed, and Dolby sound replacing the original R.C.A. system. There were still ambitions for the building. In March 1995, plans were announced to convert the disused bingo area into a third screen, a move that might have given the Plaza a new lease of life. Those plans, however, never came to fruition. Within months, proposals emerged for a nine-screen multiplex at Llandudno Junction, a scale of development that the Plaza simply could not compete with.
The cinema continued as a two-screen venue into the new century, receiving another refurbishment in 2002 before being taken over by an independent operator in 2005. By then, though, the wider landscape of cinema-going had changed beyond recognition. Large, modern multiplexes drew audiences away, and smaller, older venues struggled to secure the films needed to survive.
On 31 August 2006, the Plaza Cinema closed its doors for the last time. Just a few months later, in December of that year, the building was demolished. In its place now stand student accommodation and retail units, a development typical of many town centres but one that gives little indication of what once occupied the site.
For those who remember it, the Plaza was more than just a cinema. It was a place of routine and occasion, of Saturday afternoons and busy evenings, of wrestling nights, bingo sessions and shared experiences. Its story mirrors that of countless cinemas across the country, rising with the popularity of film, adapting through necessity, and eventually giving way to something new. What remains are the memories, held by those who passed through its doors, and the quiet knowledge that for decades, this was where Bangor came to watch the world on screen.
This article was written by Cymru Originals.
Photo: Mike Blakemore / Cinema Treasures (used under Creative Commons licence)
Newspaper adverts: The North Wales Weekly News, via Newspapers.com.
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