Towards the end of the 1900s, Augustus Pell, builder of several Coventry cinemas, saw the opportunity of bringing this popular new form of entertainment to fast-developing Earlsdon. He bought a prime site near the bottom of Earlsdon Street, engaged architect James Gilbert to design a handsome building, and contracted local builder Frank Turner of Moor Street to build it.
The ‘Electric’, as it was first called, opened on 5 December 1911. Because of its size and draughtiness it was christened by locals ‘The Barn’ — a name it kept affectionately throughout its fifty-two years of life. Showing only silent films, with the audience seated on benches (2d at the front, 3d at the back), it was soon extremely popular. In 1926 it was closed for major refurbishment: a tiny balcony was added, tip-up seats installed, and capacity increased to 432. The back row was always tacitly reserved for courting couples.
On 1 April 1930, Earlsdon audiences were able to see — and hear — the newly developed ‘talkies’. In the 1940 Blitz a bomb put the cinema out of action, but in 1947 Bill Edkins, born in Earlsdon and working as a projectionist at the Astoria, bought it, had it repaired and reopened. As television took hold, audiences declined, and in 1951 Bill relaunched it as ‘La Continentale’, showing only French, Italian, Spanish and South American films — a bold move that enjoyed a few years of success. By 1963 it was impossible to keep going. The Barn was closed in 1965 and demolished, replaced by a row of modern shops.