The building in which the theatre is housed was constructed on the foundations of the earlier Bell Inn, in Monmouth's historic town centre. Originally known as the Assembly Rooms, the theatre was first granted an entertainment licence in 1832. It was refurbished as the Theatre Royal in 1850 under J. F. Rogers, and later became the town's Corn Exchange. It was briefly a
roller skating rink, belonging to the
White Swan Hotel, at the end of the 19th century, before reopening in 1910 as Monmouth's first cinema, the "Living Picture Palace and Rinkeries". In 1912, it was renamed the Palace, in later years the Scala and then the Regent. In 1927 the building was bought by the
Albany Ward theatre group, gutted and reopened on 5 March 1928 as "The New Picture House". This showed the first "
talking pictures" in the town in 1930. It closed as a cinema in the 1960s, later reopening as a
bingo hall and again closing in 1983, before reopening for a time to show historic
magic lantern slides. ==Current management and operation==