Here is the former site of the Rio Cinema in Epworth.
Located on Queen Street it had one screen and 504 seats. It opened in November 1938 with a performance of ‘No, No Nanette’ by the Epworth Operatic Society. The first film which was shown here was ‘Rosalie’ staring Nelson Eddy and Eleanor Powell. It had state of the art technology at the time which helped boost its popularity.
During the Second World War it was not an unusual sight to see queues of cinema goers down the street as every screening was packed out. Busses were used to transport people from local villages to the cinema giving everyone a chance to see the latest film. It also hosted concerts by stars such as Shirley Bassey and Billy J. Kramer.
The owners of Rio cinema were Barnet Dawson and Sidney York. Sidney later bought out Barnet and was known locally for being quite the character.
Unfortunately, the cinema was badly damaged by fire in June 1978. It had ceased to show films several months before the fire however the damage was irreparable and the building was demolished and replaced by housing.
