IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Jennings Street, SWINDON, SN2 2BD

Looking SW from the Rodbourne Road end. The former Palladium Cinema http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4386223 is on the right.

In March 2015, this Jennings Street building is the premises of Prestige Colour, commercial & general printers. The Palladium Cinema opened here in 1928. After closure c1960 it was converted to a bingo club.

This building was originally the Palladium Cinema and is just off Rodbourne Road. It opened in 1928 and closed around the late 1950's. For about twenty years it was one of nine cinemas in the town. When it opened it could seat 750 people. Like so many former cinemas it was converted into a bingo hall but is now home to a printing firm. Image Image

This was the main entrance to the former cinema and in its heyday would have looked much smarter than it does today. Although it hasn't been a cinema for over 55 years the building is still called the Palladium. The sign is almost certainly not the original. The original awnings outside have long gone. Image Image

Part of the pedestrianised section of Percy Street, looking towards Rodbourne Road. The red brick building on the left is the Even Swindon Club Image The grass and vegetation on the right has replaced demolished buildings. For a view in the other direction Image

In this view it can be seen how far back the former cinema extended from its frontage to Jennings Street. This would have accommodated the screen, the seating for up to 750 patrons and the projection equipment. The building would greatly benefit from a repaint and it is perhaps surprising that it doesn't seem to be a listed building. It is a piece of the town's history and the front is a rather unusual design. Image Image

Former cinema in Jennings Street, opening in 1928/9 and closing in 1962. It then served as a bingo hall, before becoming a printer's workshop, a community art centre ("The Bohemian Balcony"), a second hand superstore and latterly a flooring retailer.

This is the main non-pedestrianised part of Percy Street. The start of the pedestrianised area can be seen in the far distance. The rather ugly grey building on the right is a typical 1960's office building, now known as The Shaftesbury Centre.

The middle part of the street has been pedestrianised. As part of this process some buildings on the left were demolished. They were replaced partly by the grassed area, and partly by a new terrace of homes built at right angles to the rest of the street. The buildings on the left in this view are part of that terrace.

This pub was opened by the local Arkells Brewery in 1873, and has remained an Arkells pub ever since. Originally its main customers were the railwaymen from the nearby railway works. Before the works closed the Rodbourne area was mainly populated by railway workers. Today it retains much of the feel of that era with its wooden floors, pool table and other trappings of the traditional town pub. The website of the brewery expresses the hope that visitors to the nearby Swindon Designer Outlet will find the Dolphin a place to relax after their shopping. However the majority of people buying upmarket designer goods and clothes are probably unlikely to stray into the decidedly non-upmarket environment of the Dolphin, particularly when everything they want in the way of refreshment can be found on site at the Designer Outlet. More information about the Dolphin: http://www.arkells.com/pubs_more2.php?id=603