The Palace Cinema Broadstairs - Corinna & Simon

Corrina and Simon the owners of the Palace Cinema share their love and passion for this fascinating cinema. They bring their journey to making it an intimate place to enjoy a variety of Films both old and new to us.

Originally The Windsor Cinema (1965 – 2006)

York Gate Hall was opened for the summer season in 1965 as ‘York Gate Cinema’ by Jack Field who also owned the Carlton and Regal in nearby Westgateand Birchington. The following year it was fully converted into the The ‘Windsor’ with an enclosed projection box with 35mm projector, a new doorway cut into the frontage on Harbour Street, and a foyer leading to a blacked-out auditorium with curtained screen, 29 seats on the balcony and 126 seats in the stalls below. The internal layout has remained largely unchanged ever since. In 1974 the building was Grade II listed by Historic England.

The Windsor changed hands in 1986, was renovated, and became the home once a week of Thanet Film Society (est.1995), part of the British Federation of Film Societies / Cinema for All, which expanded the cinema’s mainstream film programme to offer a weekly ‘art house’ film.

The Palace (2006 – present)

Starting in 2006, the cinema’s third owners transformed the, by then, slightly shabby Windsor into the ‘Palace’. The name change ushered in the cinema’s conversion to digital, with a 2K projector and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. They also installed a screen almost the width of the building, enlarged the foyer for more concessions space, reduced the total seating capacity to 111, refurbished throughout and brought in an illuminated cinema organ. In 2008 they were interviewed for an article in The Guardian featuring ‘10 of the best’ independent small cinemas in the UK.

https://thepalacecinema.co.uk

Harbour Street Broadstairs Kent CT10 1ET

Contact

info@thepalacecinema.co.uk01843 865726