The Capitol Cinema opened on Christmas Eve 1921 to replace the earlier cine-variety venue on site. It was designed by Phillips and Wride. According to 'Entertaining South Wales' the very large building contained an auditorium with seating for around '3,000 people, a large ballroom, three restaurants, a bar, a banqueting hall and a games hall. At the time it was the bigest purpose built cinema in Europe, and had always been intended to stage live performances as well as films. It was the flagship of the local Tilney family, whose Tilney Kinema Company owned a chain of early cinemas throughout South Wales.'

A bomb shelter was constructed in the basement of the building during the Second World War which could hold 1,000 people. The Rank Organisation bought the Capitol in 1964 and undertook major renovation work, reducing the seating capacity to around 2,500. In the 1960s and 1970s the owners offered opera, ballet and large music concerts to go alongside film showings. Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Queen, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bill Hayley and the Comets, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Status Quo and Rod Stewart were among many of the acts to have played there.

By the late 1970s, cinema audiences started to prefer smaller venues whilst music concerts could attract much larger audiences in bigger venues. The Capitol Cinema closed on 21 January 1978 and the building was demolished in 1983.

The Capitol Exchange shopping centre was later built on the site which included a five screen Odeon cinema and opened in 1991, although the cinema closed in 2001.

Meilyr Powel, RCAHMW, November 2020

Source:

'Entertaining South Wales - C', overthefootlights.co.uk, p.19