23/11/2025
Hi everyone we explored the abandoned elysium theatre, cinema and bingo hall which has now been closed down for 20+ years now. Inside this place it’s got some amazing architecture and things left behind this was a really good explore.
History:
The Elysium Building opened in April 1914.
It was designed by the architectural firm Ward & Ward and built by Fred Pitcher Ltd.
The building was owned by the Dock, Wharf, Riverside, and General Workers Union, reflecting its role not just as entertainment venue but as a social club for workers.
The building originally combined several uses: it housed a cinema, a working men’s club (Dock Workers Hall), shops, and social rooms.
It contained an arcade of shops, showrooms, staff accommodation over multiple floors, and a large main hall plus smaller halls.
The cinema, run by the Anima Company Ltd., could reportedly accommodate about 1,400 people at its peak.
Beneath the cinema was the Dock Workers’ Hall Institute: this included a ballroom, a ladies’ reading room, and a bar/social area used by the union.
There was also a small shop on the High Street frontage, which for many years housed a branch of W. H. Smith.
Though primarily a cinema, the Elysium auditorium was also fitted with a stage and a fly tower, allowing for live performances, scenery changes, and theatrical acts.
The original seating was cast-iron, and some of these seats survived under later modifications.
The cinema operations ceased around 1960, likely due to changes in entertainment habits (e.g., rise of television).
After the cinema closed, the building was converted into a bingo hall and The bingo hall shut down in 1994.
The Dock Workers Hall / Labour Hall closed a few years later (around 1998).
Since its closure, the Elysium Building has remained derelict and boarded up.
The building is recorded in Coflein (the online database for the national historic environment of Wales) as a 20th-century cinema and social hall.
Its combination of working men’s union hall, cinema, and performance space makes it a culturally and socially significant landmark in Swansea’s history.
Urban explorers note that parts of the building are dangerous and in very poor repair.
The name “Elysium” has lived on in the city: the Elysium Gallery, founded in 2007, took its name from the historic theatre.
The gallery itself has grown into a major artist-led organisation, with exhibition spaces, studios, and community engagement across Swansea.
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