In pre television and pre-computer or Smart-phone times one of the most popular leisure activities was to visit the theatre or the cinema. It is therefore hardly surprising that in 1936 Wimborne opened its own combined ‘Theatre and Movie’ house in West Borough.
Up until that time the Victoria Hall - now part of the King’s Head, a little way down the road - and the Masonic Hall in the Corn market Square were used to show films.
The site of the Tivoli Theatre was formerly a large Georgian House known as ‘Borough House’ which fortunately had a large garden that could be used to extend the house to create a large auditorium. As with many heritage parts of Wimborne this project was no different and to make progress to provide the Tivoli, a well established - 400 year old Cedar tree in the garden had
to be felled - but great care was taken in retaining the Georgian Frontage of the
main building that we still see today.
In 1979 the property was bought by Dorset County Council as a preparation for a large road development scheme - but as that wallowed and became shelved the theatre had deteriorated to disastrous levels and only in the early 1990s when a former Wimborne Mayor, Malcolm Angel, created the ‘Friends of the Tivoli’ did a movement start to preserve and resurrect the premises as
a Film-Theatre
On the 23 November 1993 the Tivoli re-opened for the people of Wimborne again.
Town Map
