A Brief History of the Forum Cinema
From 1899 Hexham eagerly received visits from travelling cinemas. The popularity of these
led to the construction of a purpose-built cinema on the Market Place called the Gem Picture
Palace in 1910. In 1914 alterations were made to The Gem Picture Palace to incorporate
Mrs Mole’s Confectionary Shop and have double glass doors that opened onto the Market
Place.
Disaster struck in August of 1914, less than a week after Britain joined WW1, when a fire
started in the stables of The Black Bull. The fire spread quickly and gutted the Gem Picture
Palace. Films were shown in Hexham Community Centre while the cinema was rebuilt, then the Gem Palace reopened the same year.
Talkies came to Hexham in 1930 and the Gem Palace was so busy it was demolished to
make way for the much more luxurious ‘Forum Cinema’, with its 1050 seats, a chandelier
reported to be from the Mauritania and its much wider frontage! The Tynedale Tatler
reported:
“No expense has been spared in any shape or form in completing this super picture house.
Here are a few of the special points for your comfort:- Large and spacious entrance. Waiting
foyer on the first floor. Streamlined seating. Acoustic tiles. Western Electric Mirrophonic
sound. Perfect ventilation. The latest in automatic heating. Four-colour stage lighting”
Now we come to think of it, we think the original automatic heating may still be in situ!
‘Hexham’s New Wonder Theatre’ as was advertised on its opening, featured; ’gorgeous
auditorium lighting’, which we refurbished and brought back into commission in 2025. It is
gorgeous! It also promised ‘comfortable streamlined seating’ and ‘handsome curtains’; things that you will still find in our art deco auditorium.
The Forum fell prey to a national decline in cinema audiences in the 1970s and closed its
doors for a while. It was then split into a bingo hall and cinema, the former opening-up
relatively quickly and the cinema taking a few more years.
In 1998 the building was bought by Wetherspoons who leased the cinema as a cinema so
that Hexham might retain its screen. In 2007 the Forum Cinema was bought by Hexham
Community Partnership and since then the cinema has funded much town activity.
Now the Forum Cinema enters a new phase, as HCP has closed its doors and handed back its shares, we continue to entertain and amaze people from all over the Tyne Valley and beyond and look forward to a bright future!
