1870 - 1877

If you arrived at Builth Wells during the 1870's, you would be coming to an increasingly prosperous Spa town. Arriving in style on the recently opened railway line, you would have found it hard to disagree, from a distance, with the Rev Francis Kilvert's description of a 'glamour and enchantment' emanating from the 'shining slate roofs of Builth and the bridge.' But once in the town you would have been dismayed at the lack of public buildings, public services and even a decent sewage system. The main market town for a large part of Mid Wales still had no covered market hall, farm produce was sold from stalls amongst the High Street livestock market. And the town boasted nothing in the way of meeting places or concert halls.

The country-wide economic optimism of the era prompted competing groups of businessmen and civic reformers to address these shortcomings. Mr Bligh of Cilmeri Park began work on what is now the Strand Hall whilst wine merchant John Davies led a rival consortium called the Builth Public Hall and Market Committee. With a capital of £3,000 in £5 and £10 shares, they purchased the picturesque but squalid cottages known as Bridge Row that butted onto the recently renovated Builth Bridge and commissioned by public competition a design for a covered market hall and assembly rooms. The winning design by Haddon Bros. of Hereford was a handsome Italianate "town hall" pastiche complete with terracotta medallions of Shakespeare, Haydn and Mozart, the Builth coat of arms and the Welsh harp, the company's chosen motif.

1877 - 1924

The Market Hall was an immediate commercial success. The ground floor consisted of a row of small shops that included the wine shop of John Davies, a cobbler, and a gentlemen's outfitter - and over succeeding years, a newsagent, barbers, confectioners, watchmakers, Builth's first Public Library and Labour Exchange. The basement market - in effect a Victorian shopping mall - was approached by a broad flight of steps flanked on either side by small lock up stalls, whilst larger stalls filled the body of the main hall and the arched and numbered alcoves that still remain today.

Market life was largely untroubled for 100 years except for the occasional flood, the worst of which reached the top market step! Up above this trading ferment, the Assembly Rooms became the place to be seen in fin-de-siecle Builth society. Ladies dismounting from carriages and 'carts' for Grand Balls, whilst keeping a fresh supply of white gloves at their rooms in the Lion Hotel to exchange for those soiled during dancing. Concerts sacred and secular, educational lectures and political meetings, with tea dances and social soirées, packed the programme until the first decade of the Century.

The old foyer

Cinema was the new sensation of the age, and the rigorous safety standards laid down by the 1909 Cinematographic Act put an end to the popular travelling cinema and led to rash of permanent cinemas being established in Wales. In 1911 the Assembly Rooms were converted into 'The Kino' in time to receive the first invasion of Hollywood movies (which effectively killed off the embryonic Welsh cinema industry). Musical accompaniment for the entire span of the 'silents' was by Mrs Mackay on piano and Mr Taylor on violin.

1924 - 1978

In 1924 the Market Hall complex was bought by Mr Worthington of The White Horse Inn, who promptly invested in the new "big thing": talking pictures. In 1937 the cinema - badly in need of refurbishment - was leased to E. Taylor's 'Castle Cinema' chain. The 30's and 40's were a time of great prosperity for the cinema. One local couple went twice a week sitting in seats H1 and H2 - and when the Cinema was refurbished were presented with their seats which they continued to use in their sitting room. Another local woman went to the cinema every Monday and Thursday until well into her nineties, sitting in the same reserved seat and utilising her free 'long service' pass. With the death of Mr Worthington in 1937 the complex was inherited by his daughter, Mrs Elizabeth Pugh, but suffered the same slow economic decline as the town and the rest of rural Mid Wales.

Elizabeth Pugh

In the late 1960's Mrs Pugh, childless and now widowed, wishing to leave the complex for the benefit of the area, discussed the future of the building with her trustees, solicitor Donald Pryse Jones and solicitors clerk Edward 'Eddie' Turner, and the idea for Wyeside Arts Centre was born. Preliminary discussions took place with the Welsh Arts Council and Theatre Projects Ltd.

In 1971 Mrs Pugh died suddenly, and work began on the scheme to give Builth Wells a Centre for the Arts. The original ambitious plan to provide two theatres, two exhibition galleries, bars, and a riverside restaurant became unfeasible when promised local authority funding evaporated during the 1974 local government reorganisation. But a compromise remodelling went ahead, and on 5th December 1978, the new Wyeside Arts Centre was opened by Lady Anglesey, Chair of the Welsh Arts Council and daughter of Builth's distinguished romantic novelist Hilda Vaughan.

1978 - 1999

The birth of Wyeside Arts Centre was not without its controversy. The tenants of the first floor shops had been displaced and Builth was at the time without a Sports Centre or indoor swimming pool. Did Builth need an Arts Centre? What emerged was essentially the vision of its founding Chairman, Donald Jones, who believed that only by enriching the cultural life of a community and by providing entertainment facilities well beyond what one could normally expect in a small town with a tiny population, could the future prosperity of the area be secured. It was a remarkable achievement by a remarkable man. The first administrator of Wyeside, Chris Baldwin, who had been the theatre and lighting designer for the remodelled building produced an imaginative and ambitious programme of events for the early years. But, already in debt from the initial building phase, and with - albeit generous - funding only from the Welsh Arts Council, the financial base of the Centre was not secure, and despite the best efforts of his successor John Bates the situation continued to worsen.

Thirteen years after Wyeside's incorporation in 1976 - which included a period as its de facto manager - Donald Jones retired from the Chair in 1989, and was succeeded by Dr Terry Watson, a local GP (and opera lover), who had chaired the Centre's Programme Committee since 1978. During the 80's and 90's, the Arts Centre's programme broadened and expanded whilst retaining traditional community events, and the Centre became the home to successful Kidsfests and the award winning Mid Powys Youth Theatre. In 1997 Dr Watson handed over the Chairmanship of the Centre to Dr Bernard Jones, Head of English at Builth Wells High School who, like his predecessor, had served as Programme Committee chair. The scope of the Centre's activities continued to develop as the Centre ran the biggest Science Engineering and Technology events in Wales, and became the acknowledged field-leader in Wales in the development of Information Technology for the Arts.

Donald Jones

In 1998, just months before the 20th Anniversary of the opening of the Arts Centre to which he had given so much, Donald Jones died suddenly. His drive, vision and energy gave this small Welsh Market town a theatre the envy of many communities a hundred times larger: it is part of his legacy that so many other towns in Wales have been moved to build Arts facilities of their own, to match what he gave Builth Wells 20 years earlier.

2000 – present

Under current director Guy Roderick, the start of the 21st century has seen Wyeside undertake a major programme of improvements and modernisation to retain its viability as an independent venue. Over the first six years of Guy's directorship Wyeside's staff and supporters worked hard to write off the venue’s potentially crippling accumulated debts, stabilising the company and securing a more sustainable future.

In 2001, the Castle Cinema was extensively refurbished. With new seating, and technical facilities to rival many modern multiplex cinemas, the cinema has continued to draw and increase audiences from a wide geographic spread.