 It closed in the 1970s and its place is now taken by housing in Mountbatten Drive.Ribbon cables and printed circuit board connectors for computers were made in the converted Empire Cinema on Hitchin Street by Electro Methods from 1959; ownership changes saw the firm renamed Ether, then Pye Connectors and finally Flexicon, until closure in 1990.The Empire (originally The Cinema Palace) in Hitchin Street operated from 1913 to 1958.