Vue Paignton

Vue Paignton is a multiscreen cinema located on the Paignton Esplanade in Paignton, Torbay, Devon, England. It occupies a building that originally opened in 1967 as the Festival Theatre, a seafront theatre capable of staging large summer shows and competing directly with the Princess and Pavilion theatres in nearby Torquay. The Festival Theatre closed at the end of 1998, and the building reopened in October 1999 as a multiscreen cinema known as the Apollo. It later became part of the Vue International cinema chain and now trades as Vue Paignton. The venue is a local entertainment landmark on the Paignton seafront, offering mainstream film screenings in a multiscreen format. Its history reflects the broader shift in British seaside entertainment from large-scale live summer theatre to multiplex cinema. The cinema operates under the Vue brand, one of the major cinema operators in the United Kingdom and Europe. The building's earlier identity as the Festival Theatre remains part of its heritage, with the site having hosted numerous well-known entertainers during its theatre years.

The building now known as Vue Paignton opened in 1967 as the Festival Theatre, a theatre in Paignton, Devon, England. It was a seafront theatre located on the Paignton Esplanade, capable of staging large summer shows, and it was in direct competition with the Princess and Pavilion theatres in Torquay. During its theatre years, the Festival Theatre hosted many well-known entertainers in summer seasons, including Leslie Crowther, Basil Brush, Larry Grayson, John Hanson, the Black and White Minstrels, Ronnie Corbett, Kenneth McKellar, Keith Harris, Roy Hudd, Tommy Steele, Freddie Starr, Roy Walker, Lyn Paul, Tom O'Connor, Dana, Danny La Rue, Michael Barrymore, Cannon and Ball, Les Dawson, and Bradley Walsh. The theatre closed at the end of 1998. The building reopened in October 1999 as a multiscreen cinema known as the Apollo. Since the closure of the Festival Theatre, the Palace Theatre in Palace Avenue, a smaller venue, has taken over as the main theatre in Paignton. The cinema later became part of the Vue International chain and trades as Vue Paignton.

• 1999

  Building reopens in October as the Apollo multiscreen cinema.

• 1998

  Festival Theatre closes at the end of the year.

• 1967

  Festival Theatre opens in Paignton.

Local multiplex cinema on the Paignton seafront, part of the Vue International chain.

• Multiscreen cinema

1. 1Vue Paigntonwikidata.org
2. 2Festival Theatre, Paigntonen.wikipedia.org