Qualla: Weymouth Pavilion

Weymouth Pavilion: Introduction

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paul Gillett, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 13 April 1954 a workman misused a blowlamp on the roof of the Weymouth Pavilion. Within an hour the entire timber-and-steel building was destroyed. The fire took out a 988-seat theatre, a ballroom, the cafes and bars - everything that had stood at the southern end of Weymouth's Esplanade since 1908. The damage came to 80,000 pounds. The insurance was paid out. The remains were demolished. Four years later, construction began on a replacement, which opened on 15 July 1960 and is still there today. The new pavilion has nearly been demolished twice since, and survives because local people refused to let it go.

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Image: Paul Gillett | CC BY-SA 2.0

Weymouth Pavilion: Edwardian Ambitions

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nigel Mykura, CC BY-SA 2.0. Weymouth had been a fashionable seaside resort since George III made his summer visits to the town starting in 1789, and by the early 20th century the council wanted a proper entertainment venue to match the town's expanding tourist trade. An architectural competition was launche...

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Image: Nigel Mykura | CC BY-SA 2.0

Weymouth Pavilion: Commandos and Moroccans

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vermatt at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. When war came in 1939, the pavilion was requisitioned by the military. No. 4 Commando, formed in 1940 as part of the new commando programme, used the building as a base. Later that same year the pavilion housed 800 men of the French Moroccan army who had been evacuated from conti...

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Image: Vermatt at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Weymouth Pavilion: Renamed and Burned

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0. After the Admiralty handed it back in 1947, the council leased the pavilion to the Buxton Theatre Circuit, who fitted a new cinema projection room in 1949 and reopened the venue in May 1950 as the Ritz. Melcombe Productions took over the operation in September 1951. Restoration w...

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Image: Neil Owen | CC BY-SA 2.0

Weymouth Pavilion: The 1960 Pavilion

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaggery, CC BY-SA 2.0. Debate dragged on through the 1950s. Construction of a replacement finally began in September 1958, to designs by architect Samuel Beverley. The council ran a public competition to choose a name in 1959 and settled on Weymouth Pavilion over the alternative The Normandy. The new b...

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Image: Jaggery | CC BY-SA 2.0

Weymouth Pavilion: Saved Twice

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Stephen, CC BY-SA 2.0. By 2006 the council was planning a 135-million-pound redevelopment of the entire pavilion site, with a new theatre, a hotel, a marina, apartments, a ferry terminal and a Jurassic Coast visitor centre - all timed for the 2012 Olympic sailing events. The recession of 2009 killed th...

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Image: John Stephen | CC BY-SA 2.0