Savoy Cinema, Exmouth 4.64

This cinema is located within Savoy Buildings, a large public hall with various offices, a cafe, fully equipped stage, fly space, five dressing rooms, it was built during the Victorian era. It was in use as a cinema during the silent film era and a Mr Vint has been named as one of its proprietors. At some stage ownership passed to a Mr Bailey who also operated a cinema in Exeter. He commissioned the addition of a balcony in the auditorium in 1926 which brought the total capacity to just over 800. For many years the Cafe continued to function and was an area that patrons passed through to reach the balcony stairs although, as with many cinemas, it also had its own entrance through the centre doors of the main building.

Just post-war ownership passed to the Mayfair Circuit who apparently sold it on fairly quickly. Ownership then passed to the Hedges family, who operated the Savoy in conjunction with the 3 other cinemas in the town, The Regal, Forum and Kings (later Grand, later Royal..). In the early 1960’s they sold the business to Compton Cameo Films, under the direction of Tony Tenser, who were rapidly acquiring cinemas as outlets for their film productions. After a couple of years or so they sold on the lease to Mr C.C.W.Scott who was operating several other cinemas in Devon. He ran it until the early 80’s when the lease expired and the freehold had been purchased by a local developer. After some years in other use cinema was re-established in the building through a three-way contract between Mr. Dyer ( the developer), the local authority and Scott Cinemas.

One interesting note is that this cinema had a very narrow escape during World War Two, when a bomb fell through the roof close to the Rolle Street cinema cafe entrance. There were over 400 people in the cinema that evening but the bomb failed to detonate.

There is now nothing of the original interior design visible... the Screen 1 projection room is located within the former stage area, Screen 2 is underneath the balcony and Screen 3 occupies the old cafe. This is a compact, modern development within a Victorian building , which benefits from an excellent, central location facing a tranquil, tree-lined square.

The 3 screens all feature NEC 2k Digital projection and 6-channel sound, with Dolby 3D also available.