The Plaza is a former cinema in Port Talbot. The building is listed for protection as Grade II. The cinema opened in April 1940.[1] [2] It has a modern design with Art Deco influences.[1] Patrons included Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins.
The cinema was built in 1939 and opened in April 1940.[1] It initially closed as a cinema in 1983 with the film Tootsie when it was converted into a bingo club.[2] It re-opened again as a cinema on 18 October 1985 with Walt Disney's Peter Pan.[2] 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.[2]
The cinema was listed Grade II on 4 August 1999 because it was considered a very rare example in Wales of 1930s cinema architecture,[1] with an interior which was largely intact.[1] 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.[3]
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.[4] By November 2021 work on the refurbishment of the cinema and its reopening as a community hub were under way.[5]