A BLUE Plaque to commemorate one of the pioneers of cinema in Wales will be unveiled in Pembroke’s Main Street early next month.

The plaque, the first in Pembroke, will honour William Haggar, who achieved international success with his ground-breaking moving pictures.

The plaque will be unveiled at the former Haggar’s cinema, now Paddles nightclub, at 10.30am on March 4 by Phil Carradice, historian and broadcaster, followed by free refreshments and shared memories of Haggar’s at the town hall, where old Haggar silent movies will be showing.

A tour of Paddles is being offered to anyone at the event who would like to see how different things are now.

Haggar’s travelling cinema, or bioscope, was a regular feature in Pembroke Fair until William opened his chain of permanent family run cinemas.

Haggar’s cinema, established by Will Haggar Jnr and his wife Jenny Linden in Pembroke in 1931, later passed to his brother Walter, whose son Leonard made Haggar’s Cinema and Ballroom a popular and much-loved Pembroke venue.

Haggar’s was a regular feature on Main Street for many years, in the building now used by Paddles nightclub, after the cinema closed in 1984.

William’s great granddaughter – and author - Vicki Haggar has been working with archaeologist Beth Dureau to gain the town’s first blue plaque.

Vicki said: “With the help of a couple of fundraising coffee mornings, generous donations from the people of Pembroke, the local town council, former town residents and members and friends of the Haggar family, we have now raised sufficient funds and purchased the specially commissioned 'Haggar', blue plaque.

“Arrangements are underway to have it installed at the site of the former haggar's cinema and ballroom.

“Everyone is welcome to this event, especially former patrons of the cinema and ballroom. I hope that there will be some memories that can be shared at the coffee morning: What about the stamping and booing when the film snapped, or the power went down? If you remember Haggar's please come to this event and show that you remember. It should be fun.

“A big thank-you to anyone who has helped us in any way. It is good to know that this is something that Pembroke has done for itself.”