Pub history

The Hippodrome

The former Hippodrome is close to the junction with Broad Street, the town’s main shopping area. The 900-seat cinema opened on 8 February 1929, built for March Amusements at a cost of £20,000 (see the initials ‘MA’ atop the Dartford Road façade). The stage doors are in the side street on Darthill Road. After a change of ownership in the 1960s, this became a bingo hall. Although films were reintroduced recently, the little-changed Hippodrome closed down in 2009.