The Bear at the Dome

The Dome, Rotunda Closure & the Bear’s Lost Show

Folded Rotunda amusement park leaflet showing the Bear — Rotunda leisure leaflet, Bear file copy. The “live folklore” panel is the earliest complete version in the file.

Recorded History

Folkestone’s seafront entertainment ground combined the Rotunda amusement park with the circular Dome arcade. The Dome contained penny machines, arcade games, bowling and an upstairs soft-play area. Clearance was under way by the early 2000s; the site was put up for sale in 2003, rides were removed in stages, and the Dome closed and was demolished in 2007.

The nearby Marine Pavilion, built in 1926, carried the older traditions of variety, dancing, plays and roller skating. It later became nightclub space, including La Parisienne—widely called the Priz—and Onyx. The Bear papers insert Bonkers into the late nightclub sequence.

The Bear Papers

The Bear’s papers confuse these neighbouring entertainments with great confidence. His proposed show takes the Marine Pavilion’s chorus line, the Rotunda’s rides, the Dome’s change machines and the Folklore Festival’s Hooden Horse, then bills the result as Live at the Dome.

For several seasons the act appears to have been supported by Rio’s Ice Cream and Silver Spring’s Roller Cola. The surviving agreements promise “refreshment in reasonable quantities” but define neither reasonable nor quantities. The Bear interpreted both generously.

Contents of This Section

Marine Parade redevelopment model from 1976 — September 1976 masterplan.

Marine Parade Masterplan, 1976
Civic Offices display

The surviving model, the International Folklore Festival, Hotel Burstin and the Bear inside a seafront future that never fully arrived.

Marine Pavilion Showtime company — Seaside showmanship with the Bear.

Live at the Dome
Principal Bear show file

Cabaret, folklore, television residue, sponsor obligations and a troublesome second half.

News from the Burstin cabaret sheet — Harbour hotel cabaret copy.

Burstin Cabaret Transfer
Marine Parade

The Bear moves from Pavilion glamour to hotel cabaret after an altercation and treats a coach-party dining room as a second act.

The Rotunda Dome half demolished with rubble in front — Dome half demolished.

Rotunda Closure
2002–07 sequence

The dismantling of the amusement ground and the end of the Bear’s supposed resident engagement.

Show Time programme from the Marine Pavilion — Marine Pavilion programme.

Marine Pavilion Afterlife
Marine Parade

Variety theatre, La Parisienne, the Priz, Bonkers, Onyx and the Bear’s diminishing late booking, ending in permanent exclusion.

Roller Cola can featuring the Bear — Refreshment tie-in copy.

Panda Shandy / Roller Cola Debacle
Rotunda kiosk

Rio’s, Roller Cola, rival Panda Shandy cans and the small commercial disagreement which ended the Bear’s refreshment sponsorship.

Folkestone folklore programme featuring the Bear — A disputed programme cover.

Lost Show Files
Fragments and warnings

Programmes, degraded tape stills, sponsor material and notices with no reliable original order.

September 1976 masterplan.	Marine Parade Masterplan, 1976 Civic Offices display	The surviving model, the International Folklore Festival, Hotel Burstin and the Bear inside a seafront future that never fully arrived.
Seaside showmanship with the Bear.	Live at the Dome Principal Bear show file	Cabaret, folklore, television residue, sponsor obligations and a troublesome second half.
Harbour hotel cabaret copy.	Burstin Cabaret Transfer Marine Parade	The Bear moves from Pavilion glamour to hotel cabaret after an altercation and treats a coach-party dining room as a second act.
Dome half demolished.	Rotunda Closure 2002–07 sequence	The dismantling of the amusement ground and the end of the Bear’s supposed resident engagement.
Marine Pavilion programme.	Marine Pavilion Afterlife Marine Parade	Variety theatre, La Parisienne, the Priz, Bonkers, Onyx and the Bear’s diminishing late booking, ending in permanent exclusion.
Refreshment tie-in copy.	Panda Shandy / Roller Cola Debacle Rotunda kiosk	Rio’s, Roller Cola, rival Panda Shandy cans and the small commercial disagreement which ended the Bear’s refreshment sponsorship.
A disputed programme cover.	Lost Show Files Fragments and warnings	Programmes, degraded tape stills, sponsor material and notices with no reliable original order.