The Rex is a cinema in the town of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. Designed in the art deco style by David Evelyn Nye in 1936, the cinema opened to the public in 1938. After 50 years of service, the cinema closed in 1988 and became derelict. The building was listed Grade II by English Heritage, and following a campaign to save the Rex by a local entrepreneur, the cinema re-opened to the public in 2004. Today, the cinema is a fully operational independent cinema, screening films 362 days of the year. The programme ranges from vintage classic films to modern blockbusters which often attract large box office queues.
History Prior to the development of the Rex Cinema, Egerton House, an Elizabethan mansion had stood on the site for approximately 350 years. Built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the house was latterly noted for its literary association with J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, through its brief occupancy by the Llewelyn Davies family. Egerton House was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Rex Cinema. In the 1930s, a cinema was already in operation in Berkhamsted High Street, the Court Cinema on the corner of Water Lane. It was acquired around 1930 by the Shipman & King cinema circuit, who also planned to open a second cinema in the town. Originally they intended to build on a site at the eastern end of town on the corner of Swing Gate Lane, but in 1936 S&K acquired Egerton House, a site closer to the centre of town which had spacious grounds for a cinema and car park. Egerton House was demolished and the Rex Cinema was erected in its place. The cinema was opened on 9 May 1938 by Viscountess Davidson, and the first screening was the film Heidi, starring Shirley Temple. In the 1970s, business waned and the Rex was no longer commercially successful. In January 1973 it was taken over by the Star Group, who renamed the cinema Studio 1. Films were shown Sunday to Wednesday, and Thursday-Sunday the building was given over to the more commercially lucrative pastime of bingo, like so many cinemas in this period. The dining room was filled with fruit machines. In 1976 the cinema changed hands once more and was taken over by the gambling company Zetters, who made major alterations to the building by dividing the auditorium into three sections. The last film to be screened on the big screen before this change was Rollerball on 7 April 1976. The circle was divided into two small studio screens, Studio 1 and Studio 2 (accessed via the front foyer stairs), while the stalls were converted to use as a full-time bingo hall (accessed through the old café area). The studios opened on 11 April with Swinging Wives and Sex in the Office in Studio 1 and The Bruce Lee Story and Somebody's Stolen our Russian Spy in Studio 2.
Closure
Zetters' lease expired in 1988 and the Rex was sold to a property developer who planned to demolish the building to make way for new offices and flats. After a final screening of The Witches of Eastwick and Teen Wolf Too, the cinema closed its doors on 28 February 1988. Efforts by campaigners resulted in the Rex being spot-listed by English Heritage. A planning inspector for the Department of the Environment reported that Nye's building contributed to the "diverse nature" of Berkhamsted High Street and that the quality and quantity of the surviving interior features merited preservation, and redevelopment plans were quashed. The building's listed status protected it from demolition and severely limited any redevelopment schemes. Various proposals were put forward for the site, including: a plan to convert the Rex auditorium into an atrium for an office building (1992); a proposal for an office complex with twin lecture theatres in the divided circle with a restored restaurant area (1993), and a plan to convert the building into a health spa (1997); these all failed to meet the strict criteria for a listed building. A fire in 1994 damaged the stage area. By this time the building had become very run down and the owners, Estates and General Property Company, attempted to have the building de-listed to enable demolition. In 1996, they attempted to dispose of the property and offered it to local entrepreneur James Hannaway for £450,000. Hannaway hoped to restore and re-open the cinema, but was unable to raise the money, and the Rex was bought by Nicholas King Homes. A local campaign group, Friends of the Rex, was formed in 1997 with the aim of saving the Rex from demolition and acquiring it for use as a film centre, with film critic Barry Norman as their honorary president. The campaign was supported by the Twentieth Century Society, Joan Bakewell, and actors Hugh Grant, Hayley Mills and Ian Richardson. Campaigners formed the Rex Film and Arts Centre Trust to put forward a number of commercial proposals for a leisure complex including cinema screens, a swimming pool and a pub. The dilapidated state of the Rex was discussed in the House of Commons; Tom Clarke of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined to offer government subsidy for restoring the Rex, and the local MP Richard Page took the view that the Rex was now an eyesore and should be de-listed and demolished to make way for sheltered housing.
Redevelopment and re-opening
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