Empire Electric Theatre

1910 - 1937

On 18th August 1910, Exeter's first building converted into a cinema, the Empire Electric opened in Wilson's Restaurant, noted for its steak and chips at 1/6 (one and sixpence) with a large archway entrance topped by an illuminated globe and the banner “You know one half of the world, we show you the other”. The owners were the Bournemouth, Exeter and Plymouth Bioscope Theatre Ltd, who installed Mr R Burgess as the manager and Mr Wensley who was an electrician and engineer.

Mr H E Farmer of Hickton & Farmer of Birmingham was the architect. He created a new frontage to what was an ordinary shop. The auditorium was only 19 feet wide, 97 ft long and 20ft high, and lined with tapestries making it seem more like a tunnel than a film hall. The screen was of painted plaster. It could seat a maximum of 230 patrons, on a raked floor with the latest tip-up seats. The two entrances were on each side of the screen, to separate the fire-risk, projection equipment from the main means of escape, although this could degrade the picture with light from the door. In the days when the film stock was explosively dangerous, an iron safety curtain could be rolled in to separate the projection box from the auditorium.

One of the first films to be shown was Danish Dragoons on Manoeuvres, which was given to selected guests including city officials. The next week Faust an early gramophone talkie was shown, although the system was not often used due to poor volume and it becoming unsynchronised from the film on the screen. Later, the same year, the Empire was advertising continuous shows from 2 pm to 10.30 pm with prices of 3d, 6d and 1 shilling. A young pianist known as Miss 'L' would sit for eight hour sessions, accompanying the flickery images on the screen. It closed in August 1937 and the building was destroyed in the May 1942 blitz.