Palace Court Theatre

The theatre was designed by local architects Seal & Hardy, who were also responsible for more than 50 other local buildings, including the Regent Centre in Christchurch, the Bournemouth Daily Echo offices, Westover Ice Rink and the Palace Court Hotel (now Premier Inn).

The first Seal and Hardy design, published around 1930, had a vaguely Egyptian cinema-style façade. However, owing to budgetary restraints, it was simplified to emulate the Portland stone façade of London’s Whitehall Theatre. Inside the venue was a fairly plain, typically 1930s modernist interior with a single balcony. Specifically commissioned as a playhouse, rather than a cinema, (sound cinema came along in 1929), the acoustics are excellent for the spoken word. It remains the only theatre in Bournemouth fully suitable for plays.

At the time of opening in June 1931, there were administrative offices and accommodation facilities alongside the theatre in the building next door. In the ensuing years, the Edwardian villas of Westover Road were replaced with hotels, cinemas, theatres, dance halls and an ice rink, as well as the sports facilities at the YMCA. Locals and visitors were attracted to "the strip". A place to see and be seen.

In the 1960s, changing holiday habits and rising costs meant that the amateur drama company could no longer afford to run the theatre, and in 1970 the building was sold to Louis I. Michaels’ LM Theatres. The former clubroom on the lower ground floor was converted into the Galaxy Cinema, whereas the main 595-seater theatre was renamed The Playhouse and operated as a repertory theatre for eight years. After this, in light of dwindling attendances, The Playhouse eventually became a full-time cinema.

In 1983, upon the death of Louis Michaels, the building was put on the market and sold to the Assemblies of God, who'd been hiring it for Sunday services. Change of use to a church was allowed on appeal, and was also made personal to the owners so that, upon any change of ownership, the permission would lapse.

In 2020, AUB purchased the building, and has since begun restoring its use as a theatre venue.