Locarno Ballrooms

The demand in these pre-sound days was for smaller and more widely distributed cinemas and some of the bigger venues struggled.

The smaller cinemas were in turn hit by the advent of sound films, and many did not survive this expensive transition.

[3] This was designed by Robert Duncan in 1898 with a cast iron structure but with a traditional stone frontage with high numbers of large windows (certainly more glazing than a typical cinema of the day).

[5] Functionally the buildings focussed on what would now be called ballroom dancing and the locations provided both professional displays plus instruction classes.

[9] In 1966, American R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner performed at the Locarno Ballroom in Coventry.