Local Cinema Advertisements - North Wales

From the collection of

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive

Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.

Local Cinema Advertisements - North Wales

Archif Sgrin a Sain Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive
Blaenau Ffestiniog
1965-01-01
Sound
5m

Trefro's Milk Bar, Ruthin, has lovable eclairs and the Taj Mahal Indian restaurants in Caernarfon and Bangor offer tables of enchantment!

Local adverts, long dead, some never to be forgotten, live again! Produced for use in any UK cinema, the local-ness extends only to the on-screen details of the companies included. Voice-overs are in RP English, scenarios opulent or city-based. Nonetheless, they are an interesting record of businesses of the period, often charming or unintentionally amusing. Llanrug's DIY store promises 'You'll have the job done as you planned it'. Indeed, admits the bodging amateur!

Local adverts, long dead, some never to be forgotten, live again! Produced for use in any UK cinema, the local-ness extends only to the on-screen details of the companies included. Voice-overs are in RP English, scenarios opulent or city-based. Nonetheless, they are an interesting record of businesses of the period, often charming or unintentionally amusing. Llanrug's DIY store promises “You'll have the job done as you planned it”. Indeed, admits the bodging amateur!

Near Your Local Cinema

Local goods for local people! Screen advertising wasn’t all national brands and chain stores.

Purpose-built cinemas began appearing around Britain shortly before WWI, booming in popularity during the War and developing into the ‘picture palaces’ of the 1920s - when adverts jostled for space alongside newsreels before the main feature. Local businesses were quick to see the potential of a big screen and a captive audience to promote their wares.

While they didn’t have access to the budgets of the national brands, regionally-specific businesses had the benefit of that personal touch. Products and services evolved over time, but that scratchy ad for your local Indian restaurant, so integral to the cinema-going experience into the 1990s, had its roots in the booming entrepreneurship of the industry many decades before.