From 'Entertaining South Wales':
'The New Grand Hall in the High Street opened in 1905, owned by David Jones, with Jack Corlass as the manager. It was built at the rear of existing premises, so that its main entrance was an unimposing archway through a former shop front. It boasted its own electric plant, hot water system heating, and a capacity of 2,000. The opening event was the Henry Bedford Company’s production of “Mafeking”. Within three years David Jones carried out significant modifications and improvements and by 1908 was promoting his business as the New Grand Theatre.'
'By 1911 film shows began to form a regular part of the shows, and sometimes a week would consist of three days of a touring play, and then three days of cine-variety.'
'The Grand was enlarged in 1924 when it was re-developed as the Grand Cinema and was leased to William Coutts, the Swansea theatre and cinema impresario. In1938 the cinema underwent further enlargement, and could seat 1100. Its owners in the mid-1950s, the Portavon Cinema Co. Ltd., decided against installing CinemaScope equipment, and shortly afterwards the cinema closed. It re-opened as a Bingo Club in 1963 and finally closed in 1972 when the building was demolished in a redevelopment of the area.'
Meilyr Powel, RCAHMW, November 2020
Source:
'Entertaining South Wales P-Q', overthefootlights.co.uk, pp.66-67