Corn Exchange, Winchester

The Corn Exchange in Winchester, a captivating edifice that unfolded its doors in 1838 on Jewry Street, stands as a testament to architectural elegance and adaptive reuse. Erected at a cost of £4,000, its strategic proximity to the railway station added to its appeal. Designed in the Italianate style by Owen Carter, the building showcases yellow brick and white ashlar, with a Tuscan-style portico likely inspired by St Paul's church in Covent Garden.

Over the years, the Corn Exchange diversified its functions. It transformed into a roller skating rink from 1906 to 1914 before evolving into the Empire Corn Exchange theatre in 1915. Renamed the Regent Theatre, it ventured into cinema in 1917, known as the Regent Picture Theatre, complete with a restaurant, tea lounge, and a daily orchestra. The cinema chapter concluded in 1922, making way for the Regent Dance Hall, only to revert to a cinema, the Regent Cinema, in 1933. The cinema era concluded in 1936, prompting the City Council to invest £3,100 in its transformation into a public library, a role it continues to play to this day.