The Palace Cinema Devizes revamp costs more than £1 million

The refurbishment of the Palace Cinema in Devizes has been ongoing for some time, after the century-old venue was purchased by Picturedrome Cinemas in 2019.

While the extent of the work necessary and the impact of the pandemic caused some delays, the cinema is still on track to reopen by the end of 2024.

The owners told this paper that they remain fully committed to the project and the town, with more than £1 million already invested in works to reverse “50 years of decay.”

Operations manager Spencer Clark said: “We’re very much focused on getting the cinema and theatre open as soon as possible and have spent excessive amounts of money on the building.

“It’s future-proofed for the town now and will still be there in another 100 years whereas before it wouldn’t have been.

The Palace Cinema during an open day in September (Image: Trevor Porter)

“We’ve spent well over £1 million on the project and lost revenue as well, we need the cinema open for the town to bring some culture in, we want to invest in both the town and the people here.”

The cinema has been completely revamped since work began with major internal works already carried out.

Mr Clark added: “When we took on the building it was almost falling in on itself, we had to sensitively restore the fly tower to make everything safe and then gutted the cinema.

“We had to install new wiring, new heating pipelines to future-proof it, so it’s been extensive and taken an awful lot of time but we’re there on that now.”

While the reopening of the cinema draws nearer, with much of the building transformed by the ongoing works, Picturedrome is still waiting for planning permission to extend the first floor, providing a rehearsal and changing area for live theatre acts.

Those working on the project told this paper a “verbal agreement” on planning permission had been reached some time ago and that they were awaiting formal approval.

The Palace Cinema (Image: Trevor Porter)

Wiltshire Council says it is still waiting on some key details before a determination can be made.

Cllr Nick Botterill, cabinet member for development management, said: “We are waiting for the applicant to provide some key details about this application.

“Without these details, we can't determine the application.”

The outcome of this application will have no impact on the reopening of the cinema.

If approved, it would “maximise the building’s diversity” by helping the venue to double as a theatre.