The Public Hall was built in 1873 and was destroyed by fire in 1906. The building opened as the New Opera House & Public Hall on 1st July 1909. It was designed by the architectural firm Messrs Davies & Sons of Chester.
The building was later renamed the Wrexham Hippodrome in 1911 and was renamed again in 1929 when it became the Hippodrome Cinema, opening on the 9th of September that year with ‘The Donovan Affair’.
Film and live theatre were then shown here for many years until the Theatre closed in 1959. It then remained dark for a number of years until it was altered, renovated, and reopened as a Cine Variety House in 1961 by its then owners Barry and M. Flanagan. Film and Variety were then put on at the Theatre for many years until it was eventually subdivided as a two screen Cinema and its live Theatre days were over. The Cinema eventually closed in 1998 after failing to get a first run showing of the film ‘Titanic’.
In 2004 the Hippodrome was bought by a property developer and its future became extremely vulnerable. Local campaigners and celebrities, including Ken Dodd fought to save the building for future generations but its redevelopment looked almost certain.
Then on the 16th of June 2008 a major fire did extensive damage to the building and its future became even more uncertain. Ironically the fire occurred just a week after the Theatre’s former owner Barry Flanagan, who had run the Theatre for over 37 years, passed away.
Sadly, nothing could save the building after the fire and 10 months later, in April 2009, the Theatre was finally demolished.
