The Gaumont
All Images Subject to Copyright
Next up in the series of famous Cardiff venues is The Gaumont. In the Fifties and Sixties it was the visiting place of the early rockers.
Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran visited whilst UK’s very first rock’n’roller Tommy Steele also made an appearance, whilst jazz legend Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald also performed together on the same bill.
Situated in Queen Street it was first a music hall, known as Levino’s Hall, which opened in 1887.
In 1889, it reopened as the Empire Theatre and later, in 1990, The Empire Palace Theatre.
Rebuilding work in 1915 increased the seating capacity from 1725 to 2820, operating as a major theatre on the Moss Empire Theatre circuit.
Having been taken over by the Gaumont British Theatres Corporation, it was converted to a cinema, though still able to provided live entertainment.
It became the Gaumont in 1954 when programmed by the Rank organisation and played back up to the larger Capitol Theatre.
With attendances dwindling, Rank decided to close the Gaumont on 30th December 1961. Live shows which had been ideally suited to the Gaumont’s large stage and backstage facilities were relocated to the Capitol Cinema where there were some stage facilities but larger seating capacity.
After demolition in 1962, a new building for the now-defunct C&A clothing business was built with a large ballroom in the basement initially bearing the "Top Rank" name. This has now been demolished and replaced by a new building for the clothing chain Primark, which by 2014 had become a Matalan store.
