One of the greatest losses to the amenities of Weymouth was the Ritz Theatre which caught fire on 13 April 1954. The fire was caused by a painter’s blowlamp.
The fire occurred during the school Easter holidays, so there was a ready made large audience.
The picture shows the fly tower already a mass of twisted metal, and the dome will shortly follow. The writer saw from a vantage point at the top of Everest Road the dome collapse.
Unbeknown at the time the writer’s father was the mobilising officer for the Fire Brigade that day and the log book in the Dorset History Centre makes fascinating reading on the management of the response.
Ultimately the auditorium was the destroyed but the ballroom and foyer were intact.
The Council demolished the building the following year but at a High Court hearing in 1958 the fire brigade evidence stated that the building could have been rebuilt.
