Bedford
The Royal County Theatre
Places > Bedford > Cinemas and Theatres
The Royal County Theatre opened in an auction house built in Midland Road in 1893. The first performance was "Brother Officers" by Arthur Bourchier on the 1st April 1899.
On the 23rd July 1942 part of the exterior was damaged by bomb blast when Bedford’s worst air raid saw the Grosvenor Hotel just round the corner at 5-7 Ashburnham Road destroyed with the loss of ten lives.
In 1957 the theatre was given a major facelift and the Victorian interior was swept away. The theatre closed in February 1960 after a run of the play "The Long and the Short and the Tall" by Willis Hall. The theatre then re-opened as a bingo hall in 1961 closing in 1995. Shortly afterwards the building became The Mount Zion Pentecostal Church.
Sources
- The Newspaper Cuttings Collection, Local Studies Library, Bedford Central Library.
- LUTT, Nigel Bedford’s Theatres In The Bedfordshire Magazine Vol.22 pp.25-28 1989.
- The Heritage Library at Bedford Central Library holds a collection of Royal County Theatre programmes 1940-58
The Royal County Theatre, Bedford by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2014
Page last updated: 19th May 2014