After our successful Tennis exhibition this year, for 2026 we turn to indoor entertainment with our next –
Lights! Camera! Action! 120 years of Cinemas and Films in Bath.
The smell of popcorn, the comfy seats, the big screen, and the atmosphere of enjoying (or not?) a film in the company of other people.
We’re currently researching a timeline of cinemas in Bath, starting with the earliest Bioscope shows which were part of variety bills at the Palace Theatre of Varieties (its façade remains as the front of the Z Hotel in Sawclose) and the Assembly Rooms, where the slogan in 1906 was ‘Pictures That Talk’ – just imagine how exciting that was.
Bath’s first purpose-built cinema was the Electric Theatre, Westgate Street (later re-built on this site as The Beau Nash, now Komedia), opening in 1910 and promoted with the words ‘We Place The World Before You’ – at this period cinemas (‘electric theatres’) showed a mixed bill of newsreels and very short films, and newsreels did literally bring images of world events to local audiences and were often the first time you’d see what a famous person looked like (probably, often, rather disappointing). The Forum (illustrated) was Bath’s first ‘super cinema’ with capacity of 2,000.
Our exhibition will also look at the cinemas in Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and Radstock – Keynsham’s Picture House actually opened before Bath’s Electric Theatre; we’ll trace the ghosts of where cinemas used to be (The Works opposite Komedia was The Vaudeville); and we’ll celebrate the people who worked in cinemas as projectionists (called ‘operators’ in the early years) and managers. It was a highly competitive market and managers strived to out-do each other with amazing marketing campaigns.
Alongside a fun exhibition we’ll also be programming a selection of films featuring Bath as a location – some you may know well and others are a bit more unusual – and talks from people working in the world of cinema and film.
We would also like to hear from YOU –
Have you a collection of cinema tickets, films flyers, cameras or equipment, photos or anything else?
Send us a photo.
Have you a memory about going to the cinema you might like to share?
Tell us here
Have you ever been an Extra? Tell us all about your experience here:
In the 1960s both 80,000 Suspects and Catch Us If You Can used huge numbers of extras – were you one of them? Please get in touch using the links above or email: secretary@museumofbath.org
Ann Cullis
Trustee & Friend November 2025