Hollywood Central Cinema

In the early 1850s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "Fakenham Corn Exchange and Public Rooms Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built corn exchange for the town. The investors included Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, whose seat was at Holkham Hall, and who took a personal interest in the project. The site they selected, in the centre of the Market Place, had been occupied by a market cross and sessions hall which dated back to 1649. The sessions hall was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held; it also had an assembly room, which was used as a school, on the first floor, but it was demolished in 1801. The current…