The Gaumont Cinema was part of the development which created the Broadway row of shops.
Broadway was built in 1921, consisting of a row of shops fronting Suffolk House and Lichfield House, with a cinema beside them.
The Globe Cinema, Acton’s largest, opened its doors on 26 March 1921, presenting Thomas Meighan in ’The Miracle Man’.
The cinema’s façade featured prominent Doric pillars at the entrance, topped by a cupola bearing a ’globe’. It offered stalls and balcony seating, along with a Jardine & Co. theatre organ.
Shortly after opening, Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT) acquired the cinema. Gaumont British Theatres subsequently took over PCT in February 1929. That same year, the Globe became Acton’s first cinema to install ’talkies’, using a Western Electric sound system.
In 1949, the venue was renamed Gaumont under the Rank Organisation’s management. It gradually became a second-run cinema, as Rank opted not to install CinemaScope. The Gaumont closed on 4 April 1959, showing ’Black Orchid’ and ’When Hell Broke Loose’.
The building was subsequently demolished. Today, the Oaks Shopping Centre occupies the expanded site.
The Gaumont Cinema was part of the development which created the Broadway row of shops.
