"In those days before the war, if a boy asked a girl to go out, it was always to the pictures. Girls did not go into public houses in those days, so it was the films or a walk."

Kay Rice Hawker in Andrew Kelly's 'Dream On, Bristol Writers on Cinema', 1994.

The 1920s and 1930s were a golden age for both cinema going and building in Bristol.

The grandest cinema was the Regent, designed by Bristol architect William Henry Watkins and opened in 1928. It had an impressive dome, was decorated in ivory, red, purple and gold and had seats for 2,014 people with standing room for 212. Customers arrived in evening dress and could also partake of the Regent Special Tea in a 120ft long lounge.

With the advent of the first 'talkies' cinema going became more respectable and the first chains emerged.

At least 40 cinemas had been built across the city by 1939. These provided one seat for every 30 of its inhabitants making a total of 14,000 seats but with the outbreak of World War II, cinema building on this scale ended and the golden age was over.