Sad times follow great and eventually the Albert Hall did indeed fall into sad, hard times. The introduction of multi channel TV and later video to the world played a major roll in seeing audiences going from thousands nightly to sometimes just handfuls scattered in the vast auditorium.
     During its life as cinema, the Albert Hall was run and owned by a number of different owners, mainly ones based in Wales such as the once important South Wales Cinemas Ltd and the prestigious Jackson Withers Circuit who ran the building like clockwork, indeed to get a job as a projectionist at ‘The Albert’ was classed as reaching the top of your profession in the area. This, at a time when south Wales had more than 200 cinemas.
    Sadly in the latter few years the later owners, Jackson Withers Circuit, let the place fall into a less than grand state and this probably contributed to even smaller audiences. By 1976, when Rank started running the cinema, the place was in a truly sad state with large areas of the auditorium closed due to falling brickwork and huge areas of seating unusable. You wouldn’t dare put your knee’s up on the back of the row in front of you as it would more than likely collapse like a deck of cards!

    In 1977 everything changed overnight.
    The mighty Rank Organization bought the Albert Hall in early 1977 with the promise to ‘spruce it up a little’.
    Truly false promises they were!

     A decade earlier, in 1968, Rank had opened a 1500 seat, showcase cinema, just one minutes walk from the Albert Hall, the luxurious Odeon Kingsway.
     One of the most modern cinemas in the UK for many years but also one of Swansea’s unsightliest buildings, Rank built the Odeon on the site of the old Plaza cinema, once billed as ‘the greatest cinema in Wales‘. Against very strong protest from the people of Swansea, the Plaza was closed, demolished and the new Odeon built, all in less than 18 months! Ironically, just 30 years after opening, the Odeon was closed and is now a bar and nightclub complex!!!
     The only future Rank really had in mind for the Albert Hall cinema was to make it yet another of their increasingly popular Top Rank bingo halls.

     Back in that year, 1977, Rank made a deadly sweep of Swansea cinema history almost overnight. When they purchased the Albert Hall they also bought the only other two remaining cinemas in the city, The Carlton and The Castle. All seen locally as a ploy to protect their new showcase Odeon.
     Within the next 6 months and before 1977 was out, all three of Swansea’s oldest open cinemas were closed, gone, forever!
     The Albert Hall, the last to close, closed its doors as a cinema for the last time on the evening of the 3rd Dec, 1977.

Albert Hall The hall from the rear balcony area.	Albert Hall The view of the huge screen was amazing from up here.