THE PRINCESS
THE PRINCESS
Box Office Telephone: 01485 532 252 (under new management from May 2012)
The Princess
is a busy and popular cinema and theatre venue, set beside the Green in the heart of Hunstanton,
or 'Sunny Hunny' (as it is popularly, and not entirely accurately,
known). The bar's terrace area is a lovely spot to enjoy a coffee or
something stronger and watch the world go by, with views across the Green
and the prom to the beach and the sea, with the coast of Lincolnshire
visible in the distance beyond the great bay known as the Wash
(yes, it's Lincolnshire, not 'the French coast', as a tourist Dad
was heard informing his family)! Situated at the north-west corner
of Norfolk, where three-coloured cliffs brace against the winds from
the North Sea, Hunstanton is one of the very few places in the east
of England where you can actually watch the sun go down over the sea.
A wonderful sight for theatre audiences taking refreshment in
the open air during the interval on summer evenings.
Like most of the town, which was founded in the 1860s as a new seaside resort to which tourists flocked via the new railway system, the theatre is built of the local carrstone which forms one layer of the cliffs, an attractive rusty-brown but rather friable material which is usually strengthened at corners and round apertures with red brick. The wall at the rear of the theatre is believed to be the tallest carrstone wall ever built.
After a chequered early history, the building was left almost derelict until the Borough Council purchased and refurbished it in 1981. The venue re-opened on 5th July that year, renamed the 'Princess Theatre' in honour of Diana, who married Prince Charles and became the Princess of Wales that same month.
Since then it has been an active cinema and theatre all year round, entertaining both local residents and the many visitors who are attracted by the delights of the area.