The Plaza is a former cinema in Port Talbot. The building is listed for protection as Grade II. [1] The cinema opened in April 1940. [2] [3] It has a modern design with Art Deco influences. [2] Patrons included Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins. [4]
The cinema was built in 1939 and opened in April 1940. [2] It initially closed as a cinema in 1983 with the film Tootsie when it was converted into a bingo club. [3] It re-opened again as a cinema on 18 October 1985 with Walt Disney's Peter Pan . [3] It finally closed on 4 January 1999 after several multiplex cinemas had opened around the venue, starving the cinema of "first run" new release film product. [3]
The cinema was listed Grade II on 4 August 1999 because it was considered a very rare example in Wales of 1930s cinema architecture, [2] with an interior which was largely intact. [2] It was purchased by the local authority in 2009, but by 2019 the building was derelict, and a campaign was launched to save it and turn it over for community use. [5]
In March 2021 Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council announced that £3.6 million had been set aside to convert the space to include a café and gym, office space, conference area, recording studio and shops. [6] By November 2021 work on the refurbishment of the cinema and its reopening as a community hub were under way. [7]
Aberavon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2015 by Stephen Kinnock of the Welsh Labour Party. It includes the town of Aberavon, although the largest town in the constituency is Port Talbot.
Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately eight miles from Swansea. The town has been described by valleys culture druid and Welsh football influencer Evan Powell as "the gateway to Swansea" and "a proper working class town". The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south east of the town and is one of the biggest steelworks in the world but has been under threat of closure since the 1980s. The population was 37,276 in 2011.
Neath Port Talbot is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Taf to the east, Powys and Carmarthenshire to the north; and Swansea to the west.
Neath is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Christina Rees, a Labour and Co-operative MP. As of 13th October 2022, she is currently suspended from the party and therefore sitting as an independent, following allegations of bullying.
Margam Castle, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales, is a late Georgian country house built for Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot. Designed by Thomas Hopper, the castle was constructed in a Tudor Revival style over a five-year period, from 1830 to 1835. The site had been occupied for some 4,000 years. A Grade I listed building, the castle is now in the care of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
Bridgend railway station is a main line station serving the town of Bridgend, south Wales. It is located approximately halfway between Cardiff Central and Swansea stations, at the point where the Maesteg Line diverges from the South Wales Main Line; it is also the western terminus of the Vale of Glamorgan Line from Cardiff. It is 165 miles (266 km) measured from London Paddington.
Neath was one of the four local government districts of West Glamorgan, Wales from 1974 to 1996.
Port Talbot was one of the four local government districts of the county of West Glamorgan, Wales from 1974 to 1996. The borough was initially called Afan, changing its name to Port Talbot in 1986.
Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is the local authority for the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council was controlled by the Labour Party from its creation in 1996 until 2022, when Plaid Cymru and a group of independent councillors agreed to share power.
Sandfields is a mainly residential district of Port Talbot, Wales. The area is located in South Wales on a narrow coastal plain between Mynydd Dinas and the sea. The M4 motorway, A48 trunk road and South Wales Main Line run nearby. The area includes a council estate, industrial areas and a seaside resort at Aberavon Beach.
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the chief objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but at first the connection to Swansea from Briton Ferry was refused.
Pontardawe Arts Centre is a multi-purpose cultural venue in Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The building is owned by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and is located in Herbert Street.
Goytre is a village near the town of Port Talbot, Wales.
The Gwyn Hall was previously a four-storey Victorian theatre in the town centre of Neath, Wales. Following a fire in 2007 it was substantially rebuilt, retaining its facade but moving the theatre to the ground floor, with flexible seating configurations. The third floor houses a cinema pod and a third screen for films with retractable seating. In addition, a glass atrium cafe was added to the frontage which was previously the car park.
Seven Sisters was an electoral ward of the Welsh principal area of Neath Port Talbot county borough. The ward, which included, as well as Seven Sisters proper, the lesser settlements of Bryndulais and Nant-y-cafn, was coterminous with the area served by the Seven Sisters Community Council.
Aberpergwm is the site of a colliery in the Vale of Neath near Glynneath in south Wales.
The Victoria Gardens, in the town centre of Neath, Wales, is a Grade II registered park on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Penscynor Wildlife Park was a wildlife and safari park located near Neath in South Wales.
The Corporation, also known as The Corp, is a public house on a prominent corner of the suburb of Canton in Cardiff, Wales. Opened in 1889 it closed as a pub in 2016, re-opening in November 2021 as a space for independent businesses.
Neath Port Talbot is a county borough in South Wales. It covers an area of 441 km2 (170 sq mi) and in 2021 the population was approximately 141,900.
Media related to Plaza cinema, Port Talbot at Wikimedia Commons