Hertford Theatre

Hertford Theatre is a theatre, cinema and community centre in Hertford, England. The council-run, multi-purpose venue opened on The Wash in 2010, featuring a high fly-tower and a 400-seat auditorium; a £1 million upgrade added digital film facilities and extended the front of house. The site on which the venue stands has over a century of arts and culture history, and the venue is associated with the BEAM brand.

The site on which the venue stands has remained a place of cultural significance at the heart of the local community for over 100 years. In 1610 the site was home to the town mill, renamed Illot's Mill in 1855, predominantly milling corn. In 1914 shops and houses were cleared to build a new cinema, the Castle Cinema, with an impressive 1,000 seats, which typically screened a changing programme of silent, short films. In 1944 the Castle Cinema closed briefly after suffering damage from a flying bomb that landed nearby; it reopened in 1946. The cinema closed on 28 November 1959 and was demolished in 1967. In 1975 Castle Hall, a new civic centre, was built, with a design influenced by local maltings and oast houses; it specialised in civic events, antique fairs and later wrestling matches, children's TV character shows and local amateur productions. In 2010 the new council-run, multi-purpose Hertford Theatre opened on The Wash, featuring a high fly-tower and a 400-seat auditorium; a £1 million upgrade added digital film facilities and extended the front of house.

1. 1Hertford | Beam Hertfordbeamhertford.co.uk
2. 2The History of BEAM | Beam Hertfordbeamhertford.co.uk
3. 3Hertford Theatrewikidata.org