SHORTLY before the start of the 20th century, Ammanford gained an arcade of shops which still stands to this day.

Here we take a look at the history of the building.

Ammanford Victoria Arcade stands on the site of the Cross Inn stables. The stables were demolished in 1897-98 to make way for the arcade, which opened in 1899.

At the time, it was a block of shops and offices with the arcade running through to the rear and was built by local man Henry Herbert according to britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. The blocks were built for the chemist Evan Evans.

It was a red brick with yellow and red terracotta dressings, slate roof, coped gables and three red brick stacks.

The building was three storeys with an attic and there was a two-storey entrance arch to the arcade.

The ground floor shop fronts, first and second floor paired camber-headed windows with glazing tracery in upper sash and moulded yellow brick surrounds.

MORE NEWS

The attic had a red terracotta balustrade and five coped double-curved dormers with arched yellow brick windows surrounds and ball finials. There were bays on the upper floors divided by panelled piers.

The arcade featured curved lattice trusses to gabled transparent roof. The shops on each side had very low boarded upper floors and casement pair windows. Originally there were five shops on each side of the arcade

In 1905, a veranda was added to the front of the building, but this was demolished in 1968.

In 1914, the Palace Cinema was built in the arcade by Evan Evans. It was a silent movie house and had a music hall for live acts and occasionally was used as a theatre. It opened with 600 seats and in 1927, it was operated by Poole’s Theatre’s Ltd.

In October 1919, a champion wrestler by the name of Relwyskow was said to have been attracting crowds at the Palace, with a number of local men accepting a challenge to face him. One of the challengers, athlete Jimmy Morris, challenged him on two occasions, lasting nine minutes and two seconds.

W. H. Crowe of the Lucania Billiards Hall – which was also located in the arcade and destroyed by the 1977 fire – also challenged the wrestler. It was said in the October 30, 1919, edition of the Amman Valley Chronicle and East Carmarthen News that Mr Crowe ‘made a fine stand but was eventually brought to the mat.’

Two days after the challenge with Mr Crow, the pair put on another exhibition performance.

Seating was increased to 895 in the late 1920s after it was taken over by South Wales Cinemas, who were based in Swansea. The company also made changes to the balcony.

In March 1937, the Palace Cinema was taken over by Union Cinemas, who themselves were taken over by Associated British Cinemas just a few months later in the October.

The cinema was equipped with Cinemascope in the 1950s and a 35 feet wide proscenium was installed. It was taken over by a private operator in 1956.

It closed in 1977 after being destroyed by a fire and was demolished in 1981.

In October 1919, the Amman Valley Chronicle and East Carmarthen News described an ‘important lecture’ that was given at the Arcade.

It says that the lecture was given by Mr A Chidzoy of Swansea about ‘Christ’s reign on Earth’ and that a large gathering of people attended.

The arcade was given Grade II listed status on August 10, 1994, due to it being a prominent urban building with good detailing of the period. It remains open with a number of shops to this day.