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Llanelli Entertainment Centre

History

The Llanelli Entertainment centre opened in the year 1938 and was designed by Harry Weedon. The building consisted of a grand art deco facade and a 1400+ seat auditorium with the circle seating about 400 people and the stalls seating over 900 people. One of its opening films was Paradise For Two. After the war, it was converted into a three screen cinema, one of the first kinds in Wales and was bought by Classic cinemas.After many years of faithful service, the smells of Kia orange faded and the reels ran for the last time in an Expendables 2 screening in september 2012. The cinema has recently been replaced by the East Gate development.

Theatr Elli

This was the main auditorium once it was converted and in the 90s was given stage facilities by the council. This auditorium is also known as Theatr One or cinema one. It consisted of 400+ seats and was surrounded by lush wood paneling to enter you would have to climb up a set of steps in the centre of the seating. Or to sneak into a 15 film you would go through the disabled entrance at the back.

'Theatr Two

This was the cinema (located in the former stalls) where you could see the original stage bottom. During the summers this 200+ seater auditorium played host to many sci-fi nerds and summer blockbuster goers.

Theatr Three

This was the smallest of auditoriums with only 100+ seats. An interesting fact is that the projector was located behing a small wood stage, behind the screen and a mirror reflected the film onto the screen. During the early 70s and 80s, this cinema showed many sexploitation movies. The design was familiar with wood paneling and the ever so loved green art deco seats and the small screen that would glow an ominous green colour before the pearl and dean advert would suddenly crank on.

The future

Lucky enough, the future is bright as Cadw, listed the building a grade 2. This means that certain art deco features must be maintained. At the moment of writing, the old building remains empty but there could very well be a sequel on the cards.