The silver screen returns to Windsor

The age of the traditional 'picture palace' is to make a comeback in Windsor - 30 years after the town's last purpose built cinema closed.

The Theatre Royal in Thames Street is to begin showing films alongside the usual live plays and shows.

It will become the 'Windsor Picturehouse' when showing movies.

The theatre's executive director Roger Richardson says the aim is to take people back to the days when a 'trip to the flicks' in theatre style cinemas with stalls and circles was a special occasion.

He said: "We’re very excited to launch the Windsor Picturehouse as currently film fans have to travel to Maidenhead, Slough or Staines. It seems rather apt that a Windsor cinema should be hosted by the theatre given that the building was used as a cinema in the 1920s."

The Windsor Picturehouse launches on Sunday, October 6 with screenings of the Disney classic Aladdin to celebrate this year’s live Windsor panto, Baz Luhrmann’s spectacular Moulin Rouge and the action thriller Inception.

Between now and the launch, the cinema is offering half-price annual membership entitling patrons to £1 tickets on launch day and exclusive ticket discounts and offers for the rest of the year.

Audiences will be offered blockbusters, cult films, one-off specialist events including bring-your-baby mornings and Bollywood Sundays, silver screen classics and family flicks.

Windsor once boasted three full-time cinemas - the last one to survive being the ABC (formerly the Playhouse) on Windsor Eton bridge which closed its doors early in 1983.

Since then occasional films have been shown at the Windsor Art Centre - now the Firestation arts centre in St Leonard's Road which has its own fully equipped cinema.

For more information about the films at the Theatre Royal visit www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk/cinema