Prince of Wales Theatre, Cardiff

The Prince of Wales Theatre is a former theatre in central Cardiff. Built in 1878 seating 2,800, it later became a sex cinema. It is now a pub.

The building is located near Cardiff Central railway station, near the corner of St Mary Street and Wood Street, with entrances and façades on both streets.

The theatre was built in 1878 to a Venetian Gothic design by the architects W. D. Bleasley and T. Waring, during a period of rapid expansion of Cardiff, then a prosperous coal-exporting port. The building was a prompt replacement Cardiff's old Theatre Royal in Queen Street (built 1827, which had burnt down in December) doubling the audience capacity to almost 2000, and was opened on 7 October 1878. The main stage was 56 feet wide and 46 feet deep, framed by a 30 feet high proscenium arch topped with the royal coat of arms. Interior decoration was in gold and white and the building was illuminated after dark using 800 gas lamps.

The theatre was later rebuilt in the Greek Revival style to a design by Willmott & Smith. An additional entrance on St Mary Street was added with two large fluted Doric columns flanking a neoclassical statue of a young woman holding a cup. The interior of the theatre was remodelled in 1920 in the same Greek style. The proscenium arch is flanked by massive Ionic columns carrying a large triangular pediment with an elaborate Grecian bas-relief frieze above.

In 1988 the interior was divided into multiple spaces for a variety of uses, including an amusement arcade and a pub. This largely obscured the original interior. The interior was again altered in 1999, converting the entire space into a pub and partly restoring the 1920 interior.

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