Gillingham Cinema

A Memory of Gillingham.

The Embassy in Green Street was formerly called the Odeon. Other cinemas in Gillingham at that time were the Plaza in Duncan Road (on the site of what is now Aldi's) and the Grand on the corner of Skinner Street and Jeffery Street. The Grand closed sometime in the 1960's I think after part of the ceiling collapsed during the Saturday morning kids' pictures. Other cinemas near to Gillingham were the Royal in Rainham High Street (now a furniture shop), the Gaumont (formerly the Palace) on Watling Street Chatham which is now a camping shop, previously a bowling alley - the south side of Watling Street was in Chatham and the north side in Gillingham! The Ritz and the Regent in Chatham High Street and the Empire (next door to the Empire Theatre) at the other end of the High Street (now the site of the County Court), the Gaumont in Rochester High Street and the Waldrona(?) in Strood.