Electric Palace

Built by the Palmer brewing family and opened in June 1926 to a house of five hundred, the Electric Palace keeps its red velvet seats and the murals George Biles — the brewery's own sign-writer — painted on its walls in 1936. Alasdair Warren has owned it for a dozen years, put more than £3m into the restoration and installed the largest cinema screen in Dorset; in 2026 the Financial Times counted it among the most breathtaking cinemas in the world — the same year Warren, restoration done, put the building on the market. Films, live theatre, comedy and music carry on while the sale finds the right hands.