Bromley’s “super cinema” once stood not far from where the town centre’s only cinema stands today.
Locals may find themselves walking past the Dreams bed shop in the High Street on their way to see the latest film at Bromley’s Vue cinema.
Number 44 Bromley High Street, where the store stands, was once home to Bromley’s “super cinema”, which had a capacity of more than 2,500 people.
The Gaumont British Theatres cinema first opened its doors in Bromley on November 23, 1936, and became part of the town’s leisure scene for more than two decades.
Dreams shop in Bromley, once the site of a cinema (Image: Google)
Located on the corner of Ravensbourne Road, close to Bromley South railway station, it was one of the biggest and most ambitious cinemas built in the area during the interwar years.
Bromley’s first cinema had opened in 1909 inside a converted theatre, but rapid development across the town during the 1930s created demand for a much larger venue.
Designed by architect William E. Trent, the building featured a striking brick exterior with horizontal banding and was built on the site of a former music college. It had a flat‑topped corner tower above the entrance displaying a large vertical neon sign.
Inside, the auditorium was particularly unusual, with a design intended to create an undersea effect resembling the inside of a shell. It also had the capacity to host live performances as well as films.
The cinema featured a large organ, opened by organist Terance Casey, as well as a café and restaurant capable of seating 150 guests.
The venue opened with screenings of Robert Taylor in Private Number (also known as Secret Interlude) and Ralph Lynn in In the Soup, and it went on to entertain crowds for many years.
After the Second World War, the cinema struggled to compete with its nearby rival, Odeon Cinemas, and with the rise of television, which caused the industry as a whole to decline.
After 25 years in business, the Gaumont closed on February 18, 1961.
Its final showings were Circle of Deception, starring Bradford Dillman, and None but the Brave, starring Richard Basehart.
Following its closure, the former cinema became a department store, later taken over by Debenhams in the early 1960s, before eventually being subdivided into retail units — with Dreams now occupying the site where the cinema once stood.
