The Rex, Berkhamsted - History

History

Prior to the development of the Rex Cinema, Egerton House, an Elizabethan mansion had stood on the site for approximately 350 years. Built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the house was latterly noted for its literary association with J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, through its brief occupancy by the Llewelyn Davies family. Egerton House was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Rex Cinema.

In the 1930s, a cinema was already in operation in Berkhamsted High Street, the Court Cinema on the corner of Water Lane. It was acquired around 1930 by the Shipman & King cinema circuit, who also planned to open a second cinema in the town. Originally they intended to build on a site at the eastern end of town on the corner of Swing Gate Lane, but in 1936 S&K acquired Egerton House, a site closer to the centre of town which had spacious grounds for a cinema and car park. Egerton House was demolished and the Rex Cinema was erected in its place. The cinema was opened on 9 May 1938 by Viscountess Davidson, and the first screening was the film Heidi, starring Shirley Temple.

In the 1970s, business waned and the Rex was no longer commercially successful. In January 1973 it was taken over by the Star Group, who renamed the cinema Studio 1. Films were shown Sunday to Wednesday, and Thursday-Sunday the building was given over to the more commercially lucrative pastime of bingo, like so many cinemas in this period. The dining room was filled with fruit machines. In 1976 the cinema changed hands once more and was taken over by the gambling company Zetters, who made major alterations to the building by dividing the auditorium into three sections. The last film to be screened on the big screen before this change was Rollerball on 7 April 1976. The circle was divided into two small studio screens, Studio 1 and Studio 2 (accessed via the front foyer stairs), while the stalls were converted to use as a full-time bingo hall (accessed through the old café area). The studios opened on 11 April with Swinging Wives and Sex in the Office in Studio 1 and The Bruce Lee Story and Somebody's Stolen our Russian Spy in Studio 2.