There are entries for the Orange Hall, proprietor H. Black, 300 seats in the Kine Year Book (1939, 1940 and 1942).
The Palladium Cinema was first seen in the Kine Year Book for 1945 (but no sign of Orange Hall). The proprietor was Raymond Stross Cinemas, College Square East, Belfast. There were 200 seats. This was repeated in the 1946 edition. To help explain the choice of name, by 1944 Raymond Stross owned cinemas in Coleraine and Portstewart (not that far from Bushmills), both of which were named Palladium.
The 1948 and 1950 editions have no listings for Bushmills.
When the Majestic opened in 1939 there was an agency office for the Ulster Bank on one side of the entrance and a café on the other side. The café was run by Mr. A. Forte, who also had concessions inside the cinema for ice cream, confectionery and cigarettes. The first film shown was ‘Pygmalion’ starring Leslie Howard. Shows were continuous from 2.30 with prices starting at 6d.
One former cinemagoer recalls a Mr. McKeown (he had a Scottish accent), who managed the Majestic during the Sixties. This commentator, while working in the town in 1966, remembers the Majestic’s manager but not his name or accent. This gentleman also managed Rank’s Avenue cinema in Belfast and had been seconded to the Majestic for the summer season.
An oddity was found in the Kine Year Books (1939 and 1940). There was no sign as yet of the Majestic (opened 1939) but there was a new entry for the Ritz, Portrush - proprietor W. James (no other details). The 1941 edition was not seen but in the 1942 edition an entry for the Majestic was in place; there was no sign of the Ritz. Could it be that W. James was in fact William James, a director of Portrush Majestic Cinema Ltd (see previous comment) and the Ritz was the intended name for the cinema which became the Majestic?
When the Majestic Cinema opened in 1939 the owner was Portrush Majestic Cinema Ltd. The directors were William L. James, Mrs. Bridget L. James and James Curran (head of Curran Theatres). Mr. J. McLeod was the secretary and manager while the architect was James Sheriff Kennedy of Coleraine and Portstewart. By 1946 James Curran has taken a controlling interest in the Majestic and by the end of 1948 it had been taken over by Curran Theatres (who had grown to become one of the largest cinema chains in Northern Ireland). In 1956 the Majestic was included in the sale of the Curran chain to Rank.
Rank closed the Majestic in 1970, according to the Overview on Cinema Treasures. This is slightly at odds with the article on discoverportrush.com which says it closed in 1974. The Belfast Telegraph (5th July 1977) reported that James Moran had turned the former Majestic Cinema, which he had bought 3 years earlier, into a complex. Spread over 4-stories, it included not only the cinema but a bingo hall, leisure complex and restaurant. Moran also changed its name to the Playhouse and appointed a new manager, Ken Gibbons. Despite of all these changes, by 1980 (or 1982?) the Playhouse had closed.
In 1987 the Playhouse was leased to George Rowan and Michael McAdam (his first cinema venture) but their length of stay seems only to have lasted until 1990 (Sunday Life, 15th April 2007). In 1990 Michael McAdam opened the first of his Movie House Cinemas chain (at Glengormley – see separate Cinema Treasures entry).
According to the Overview, the Playhouse reopened in 1993 and in the summer of 1997 a second screen was added. These developments were a result of Ken Gibbons, the Playhouse’s former manager (in the later 1970s) having taken it over. Ken Gibbons ran it until his death in 2004 after which his son Alan took over until it closed in 2006. In 2007 Michael McAdam returned to the Playhouse again, when he opened it for Easter, before taking a 10-week lease for the summer season.
Around 1934 or 1935, Mr. J. Menary, previously associated with the Adelphi Kinema, Bangor, Co. Down, bought the Palladium in Coleraine.
Nine or ten years later (Kine Year Book, 1944), the proprietor was listed as the Coleraine Palladium Cinema Co., Raymond Stross Cinemas, College Street, Belfast. Raymond Stross, best known as a film producer, had, in the early 1940s, bought the Kelvin Cinema in Belfast city centre (see entry on Cinema Treasures for Classic Cinema, Belfast).
Shortly after his Coleraine acquisition, Menary bought a newly built cinema in the nearby seaside resort of Portstewart, which he renamed the Palladium. The latter he also sold to Stross. Stross didn’t hold on to either of these cinemas for long, selling them by 1945 to Irish Theatres Ltd.
The Coleraine and Portstewart Palladiums were included in a package of eleven cinemas sold by Irish Theatres (one of the largest cinema chains in Northern Ireland) to Rank in 1955. However, neither of them were included in the sale by Rank of its Northern Ireland estate to Belfast Cinemas in 1974.
As already noted in the current Overview, Shaun Henry was the proprietor of the Palladium, Coleraine in 1980. It may be the case that he acquired this cinema from Rank, by or around 1974.
The 1927 Kine Year Book listed it as the Picture Palace. In the 1933 edition the Picture House name had been reinstated. Even in its final years, tinkering with the name was still happening. In the Coleraine Chronicle, 20th September 1974, the Palace had once more become the Picture Palace.
Browsing the pages of the Coleraine Chronicle, we find an advertisement in the issue dated 23rd August 1975 which carried the programme to 30th August. It also announced that the Picture Palace would close for 2 weeks (reason not given). The last advertisement seen was on 13th September 1975, for the programme to 20th September. The paper was examined as far as 20th December 1975 but nothing further was seen about the Palace or the Picture Palace, perhaps an indication that it had finally closed.
Still browsing the pages of the Kine Year Book, the name of the proprietor, Coleraine Picture Palace Company Limited, kept recurring. Mention has been made in Comments of the involvement of the Christie family, which helps to explain why the patrons nicknamed it “Christie’s.”
According to NI Archive.org/Reflections on the Causeway Coast & Glens, Coleraine’s first cinema was the Orange Hall in Union Street. Did it justify the name cinema? That question remains unresolved; no date or other details have been seen. If it was the first cinema, it must have predated the Picture House.
First sighting of the Ballymoney Picture House in Main Street was found in the Kine Year Book 1927 (had no access to earlier editions). The proprietor and manager was P. J. O’Kane. The entries continued along the same lines up to and including the 1933 edition but after that the Picture House disappeared from sight. Had no access to the 1934 but in the 1935 edition the Cinema (no address given then or subsequently) was seen for the first time. Could it be that the Cinema was the successor to the Picture House and, perhaps, had taken over the latter’s Main Street premises? Unfortunately, the Provincial Towns section of the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory throws no light on this conundrum.
The Kine Year Book 1937 (and again in 1938) lists A. C. Cinemas Ltd as the proprietor of the Cinema (in other editions the proprietors were not shown). A. C. Cinemas was also the owner of the Cinema in Ballycastle around the same time.
First sighting of the Palladium was in the Kine Year Book 1939, which lists J. N. Crawford as the proprietor (400 seats). Other than the name, this Palladium had no connection with the Palladium cinemas in Coleraine or Portstewart. Perhaps Crawford just liked the name! He also owned the Castle Cinema in Belfast.
First sighting of the Picture House was in the 1927 Kine Year Book (had no access to earlier editions). The proprietor was McAllister Picture Hall Company, manager F. Blair (no street address). This was repeated in 1928 except that the manager was E. J. Fogarty. In the 1933 Kine Year Book the Picture House name had gone and now it was the McAllister Hall (other details as previous).
The Kine Year Book 1935 (1934 not seen) introduced the New Cinema but carried no further details other than 400 seats - subsequent entries did not reveal a street address. There was no sign of the McAllister Hall in the 1935 edition or subsequently. By the 1937 edition A. C. Cinemas Ltd had taken over the Cinema (450 seats, then 500 seats in 1938). By 1939 the New in the name had been dropped so it was just Cinema; the new proprietor was E. F. McCambridge (430 seats but in 1940, 400 again). These entries continued more or less along the same lines until 1954 (no access to Kine Year Books after that). A. C. Cinemas also owned the Cinema (later Palladium) in Ballymoney.
The Gate cinema closed on 12th August 2023 for major refurbishment, following a change in ownership. It was due to reopen on 15th December 2023 under its new name - The Arc Cinema.
Only a few years after the Alhambra had closed, the Belfast Telegraph (6 April 1964) reported that Belfast City Council had rejected plans to build a cinema, dance hall and bowling alley complex on a site at 30/36 North Street, almost opposite the Alhambra. The applicant was Compton Cinemas, London. Could this possibly have been the same company which operated an adult cinema in the heart of London’s Soho from 1960 to the 1970s?
A year before the Imperial opened its doors, the possibility of another cinema opening nearby was being contemplated. Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT), having opened their Picture House in Royal Avenue in 1911, were looking at a second house in the city centre. To this end they had their eyes set on a site at 5/7 High Street (occupied by Hyams, clothiers and outfitters); the plan would have involved linking the rear of that building to an adjacent site which had its frontage at 12 Cornmarket (occupied by Linden’s “High class confectionery and pastry”) only a few doors away from the Imperial. Irish cinema historian and author Kevin Rockett says the project was considered too ambitious as it wouldn’t have produced an adequate return. It did not
proceed.
Continuing with super cinemas which didn’t happen. In July 1946 it was reported that Rank had acquired the Picture House in Royal Avenue and adjoining property so a 5,000-seater cinema (the largest in the UK!), ballroom and café could be erected. A sum of £600,000 was said to be involved in the project. In August the same year, Kine Weekly gave the seating capacity as 3,000. However, the deal was not completed; reasons must surely have included post-WW2 restrictions on new building construction.
In March 1947 Curran Theatres acquired the Picture House; it was the local chain’s first incursion into the city centre. It’s been suggested that Curran’s subsequent refit, renovation and rebranding as the Regent was but stage 1 of a project which would eventually lead to demolishing the building and replacing it with a 3,000-seater. Stage 2, however, did not happen.
Frustrated with the lack of progress over the Picture House site, Rank cast its eye over other city centre sites. In 1948 planners, apparently, gave them permission to build a 3,000-seater cinema on an unnamed bomb-damaged site; this report proved to be unfounded. Nevertheless, in 1954 the Belfast Telegraph reported that construction of a 1,750-seater in Fountain Street (same site as 1948?) would commence in the autumn. This didn’t happen either! (Sources include ‘Cinemas and Cinema-Going in the United Kingdom Decades in Decline, 1945-65’ by Sam Manning, 2020 and ‘Standing Room Only’ by James Doherty, 1997.)
During the mid-1950s Rank’s acquisitions of the two leading local chains, Curran and Irish Theatres, changed their perspective on super-cinemas in the city centre. Instead of turning their attention back to the Picture House (by then the Regent) site, at the start of the Sixties Rank bought the Hippodrome and Grand Opera House which sat side-by-side in Great Victoria Street. These were turned into their flagship venues in the city centre. The outcome was that the Regent was, to some extent, sidelined. That said, they did spend money on it and changed its name to the Avenue in 1965.
Following-up on the last Comment, Irish film historian and writer Kevin Rockett said that Paramount’s attempt to enter the Belfast market in 1931 was unsuccessful. He quoted from a press report stating that its proposed super cinema was postponed due to the economic depression. Rockett didn’t give any details about the intended site and so it’s unclear if this was the same plan he was referring to in the following paragraph.
Rockett also writes that Paramount seemed to have become involved with the Picture House in Royal Avenue, with a view to erecting a super cinema there; this development would stretch onto an adjacent site. Progress on this plan was postponed. (Source: ‘Film Exhibition and Distribution in Ireland, 1909 - 2010’ by Kevin Rockett, Four Courts Press, 2011).
Further back, on 19 May 1925, the Belfast Telegraph, in a brief report, said that the Grand Central Hotel (the city’s premier hotel, which was close by the Picture House) was to be turned into a super cinema and restaurant. Nothing further came of that.
Belatedly responding to the comments of July 2, which I’ve only just seen - The idea of a cinema on this site was conceived by Strand Cinemas (Belfast) Ltd., a locally owned company. One of their directors, Harry Wilton, was already well-known in local cinema circles. The company purchased the site and plans drawn up by architect Thomas Guthrie were submitted to the City Surveyor on March 26, 1935. Around this time Union Cinemas took over the project. McBride Neil, who was already making a name for himself as a cinema designer, was appointed and his new plans were submitted and approved. Tt seems unlikely that McBride Neil would have borrowed from Guthrie’s ideas, but we shall probably never know as no trace of the latter’s plans have been seen. Harry Wilton was appointed as the new cinema’s first managing director.
The cinema closed in April 2022. No official statement was made by IMC at the time but in reply to a tweet (29 April) the company said ‘it was closed for the foreseeable future’. The cinema is now on the market and still ‘fitted out for immediate use’. The commercial estate agent Osborne King states that ‘The front building is of modern construction with older original commercial buildings to the rear.’ The sale brochure also says that the buildings and car park run to 17,039sq.ft. (Source BelfastLive.Co.UK, 25 May 2022)
Belfast City Council has given the green light for a new multiplex cinema, entertainment and retail complex on the 120,00 sq ft site formerly occupied by Catsle Court’s anchor store Debenham’s, which closed in 2021. The 9 luxury screens alongside a licenced bar would be operated by Omniplex, Ireland’s largest cinema chain, using its new luxury cinema brand, The Avenue. It’s no coincidence that is also the site where the original Avenue cinema (closed 1982) stood on. The new cinema is scheduled to open in December 2022.
As previously noted by popcorn_pete, the Ormond was taken over by Omniplex in January 2021 and rebranded. Since then there has been a prolonged period of what was referred to on their website as temporary closure. That’s all in the past now - the Omniplex Nenagh opened for business on 17th December 2021.
According to the Roscommon Herald, the C & L Plex was taken over by Omniplex on 8th August 2019. On 5th August the previous owners had announced that they were closing the doors with immediate effect. The paper also reported that Omniplex planned to reopen the cinema on 9th August.
In a press release on 27 September 2021, Cineworld announced that it was now recruiting staff for its first Northern Ireland cinema. The 13-screen (one more screen than previously) is due to open in November. The cinema has remained closed since 17 March 2020, initially as a result of the pandemic, while the fit-out takes place.
The conversion of the Strand from a single screen to a 4-screen in 1988 reduced the number of seats to 642 (see Overview for details). The current total is 608: Screen 1 – 250, Screen 2 – 180, Screen 3 – 98 and Screen 4 – 80.
In a post published on their website today, Movie House Cinemas has confirmed that the cinema will close on Sunday 26 April 2020. Michael McAdam, Managing Director of Movie House, said: “It’s the end of an era on the Dublin Road and we want to thank all our customers and staff teams for their support over the years."
A £17m redevelopment of the Odyssey Pavilion, aimed at making it the “biggest leisure attraction” in Ireland, was announced on 17 October 2019 (sources: Belfast Telegraph and Belfast Live). The 12-screen cinema will change hands (date not yet made public), becoming the first Cineworld in Northern Ireland. The new owners intend to spend £4m on a rolling fit-out, providing “minimal disruption to visitors".
In a statement posted on its website on 14 August 2019, Movie House Cinemas said that Dublin Road will remain open in the autumn and possibly well beyond. The update revealed that Movie House Cinemas didn’t have an exact date for the cinema’s closure but further information would be posted when this was known.
There are entries for the Orange Hall, proprietor H. Black, 300 seats in the Kine Year Book (1939, 1940 and 1942).
The Palladium Cinema was first seen in the Kine Year Book for 1945 (but no sign of Orange Hall). The proprietor was Raymond Stross Cinemas, College Square East, Belfast. There were 200 seats. This was repeated in the 1946 edition. To help explain the choice of name, by 1944 Raymond Stross owned cinemas in Coleraine and Portstewart (not that far from Bushmills), both of which were named Palladium.
The 1948 and 1950 editions have no listings for Bushmills.
When the Majestic opened in 1939 there was an agency office for the Ulster Bank on one side of the entrance and a café on the other side. The café was run by Mr. A. Forte, who also had concessions inside the cinema for ice cream, confectionery and cigarettes. The first film shown was ‘Pygmalion’ starring Leslie Howard. Shows were continuous from 2.30 with prices starting at 6d.
One former cinemagoer recalls a Mr. McKeown (he had a Scottish accent), who managed the Majestic during the Sixties. This commentator, while working in the town in 1966, remembers the Majestic’s manager but not his name or accent. This gentleman also managed Rank’s Avenue cinema in Belfast and had been seconded to the Majestic for the summer season.
An oddity was found in the Kine Year Books (1939 and 1940). There was no sign as yet of the Majestic (opened 1939) but there was a new entry for the Ritz, Portrush - proprietor W. James (no other details). The 1941 edition was not seen but in the 1942 edition an entry for the Majestic was in place; there was no sign of the Ritz. Could it be that W. James was in fact William James, a director of Portrush Majestic Cinema Ltd (see previous comment) and the Ritz was the intended name for the cinema which became the Majestic?
When the Majestic Cinema opened in 1939 the owner was Portrush Majestic Cinema Ltd. The directors were William L. James, Mrs. Bridget L. James and James Curran (head of Curran Theatres). Mr. J. McLeod was the secretary and manager while the architect was James Sheriff Kennedy of Coleraine and Portstewart. By 1946 James Curran has taken a controlling interest in the Majestic and by the end of 1948 it had been taken over by Curran Theatres (who had grown to become one of the largest cinema chains in Northern Ireland). In 1956 the Majestic was included in the sale of the Curran chain to Rank.
Rank closed the Majestic in 1970, according to the Overview on Cinema Treasures. This is slightly at odds with the article on discoverportrush.com which says it closed in 1974. The Belfast Telegraph (5th July 1977) reported that James Moran had turned the former Majestic Cinema, which he had bought 3 years earlier, into a complex. Spread over 4-stories, it included not only the cinema but a bingo hall, leisure complex and restaurant. Moran also changed its name to the Playhouse and appointed a new manager, Ken Gibbons. Despite of all these changes, by 1980 (or 1982?) the Playhouse had closed.
In 1987 the Playhouse was leased to George Rowan and Michael McAdam (his first cinema venture) but their length of stay seems only to have lasted until 1990 (Sunday Life, 15th April 2007). In 1990 Michael McAdam opened the first of his Movie House Cinemas chain (at Glengormley – see separate Cinema Treasures entry).
According to the Overview, the Playhouse reopened in 1993 and in the summer of 1997 a second screen was added. These developments were a result of Ken Gibbons, the Playhouse’s former manager (in the later 1970s) having taken it over. Ken Gibbons ran it until his death in 2004 after which his son Alan took over until it closed in 2006. In 2007 Michael McAdam returned to the Playhouse again, when he opened it for Easter, before taking a 10-week lease for the summer season.
Around 1934 or 1935, Mr. J. Menary, previously associated with the Adelphi Kinema, Bangor, Co. Down, bought the Palladium in Coleraine. Nine or ten years later (Kine Year Book, 1944), the proprietor was listed as the Coleraine Palladium Cinema Co., Raymond Stross Cinemas, College Street, Belfast. Raymond Stross, best known as a film producer, had, in the early 1940s, bought the Kelvin Cinema in Belfast city centre (see entry on Cinema Treasures for Classic Cinema, Belfast).
Shortly after his Coleraine acquisition, Menary bought a newly built cinema in the nearby seaside resort of Portstewart, which he renamed the Palladium. The latter he also sold to Stross. Stross didn’t hold on to either of these cinemas for long, selling them by 1945 to Irish Theatres Ltd.
The Coleraine and Portstewart Palladiums were included in a package of eleven cinemas sold by Irish Theatres (one of the largest cinema chains in Northern Ireland) to Rank in 1955. However, neither of them were included in the sale by Rank of its Northern Ireland estate to Belfast Cinemas in 1974.
As already noted in the current Overview, Shaun Henry was the proprietor of the Palladium, Coleraine in 1980. It may be the case that he acquired this cinema from Rank, by or around 1974.
The 1927 Kine Year Book listed it as the Picture Palace. In the 1933 edition the Picture House name had been reinstated. Even in its final years, tinkering with the name was still happening. In the Coleraine Chronicle, 20th September 1974, the Palace had once more become the Picture Palace.
Browsing the pages of the Coleraine Chronicle, we find an advertisement in the issue dated 23rd August 1975 which carried the programme to 30th August. It also announced that the Picture Palace would close for 2 weeks (reason not given). The last advertisement seen was on 13th September 1975, for the programme to 20th September. The paper was examined as far as 20th December 1975 but nothing further was seen about the Palace or the Picture Palace, perhaps an indication that it had finally closed.
Still browsing the pages of the Kine Year Book, the name of the proprietor, Coleraine Picture Palace Company Limited, kept recurring. Mention has been made in Comments of the involvement of the Christie family, which helps to explain why the patrons nicknamed it “Christie’s.”
According to NI Archive.org/Reflections on the Causeway Coast & Glens, Coleraine’s first cinema was the Orange Hall in Union Street. Did it justify the name cinema? That question remains unresolved; no date or other details have been seen. If it was the first cinema, it must have predated the Picture House.
First sighting of the Ballymoney Picture House in Main Street was found in the Kine Year Book 1927 (had no access to earlier editions). The proprietor and manager was P. J. O’Kane. The entries continued along the same lines up to and including the 1933 edition but after that the Picture House disappeared from sight. Had no access to the 1934 but in the 1935 edition the Cinema (no address given then or subsequently) was seen for the first time. Could it be that the Cinema was the successor to the Picture House and, perhaps, had taken over the latter’s Main Street premises? Unfortunately, the Provincial Towns section of the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory throws no light on this conundrum.
The Kine Year Book 1937 (and again in 1938) lists A. C. Cinemas Ltd as the proprietor of the Cinema (in other editions the proprietors were not shown). A. C. Cinemas was also the owner of the Cinema in Ballycastle around the same time.
First sighting of the Palladium was in the Kine Year Book 1939, which lists J. N. Crawford as the proprietor (400 seats). Other than the name, this Palladium had no connection with the Palladium cinemas in Coleraine or Portstewart. Perhaps Crawford just liked the name! He also owned the Castle Cinema in Belfast.
First sighting of the Picture House was in the 1927 Kine Year Book (had no access to earlier editions). The proprietor was McAllister Picture Hall Company, manager F. Blair (no street address). This was repeated in 1928 except that the manager was E. J. Fogarty. In the 1933 Kine Year Book the Picture House name had gone and now it was the McAllister Hall (other details as previous).
The Kine Year Book 1935 (1934 not seen) introduced the New Cinema but carried no further details other than 400 seats - subsequent entries did not reveal a street address. There was no sign of the McAllister Hall in the 1935 edition or subsequently. By the 1937 edition A. C. Cinemas Ltd had taken over the Cinema (450 seats, then 500 seats in 1938). By 1939 the New in the name had been dropped so it was just Cinema; the new proprietor was E. F. McCambridge (430 seats but in 1940, 400 again). These entries continued more or less along the same lines until 1954 (no access to Kine Year Books after that). A. C. Cinemas also owned the Cinema (later Palladium) in Ballymoney.
The Gate cinema closed on 12th August 2023 for major refurbishment, following a change in ownership. It was due to reopen on 15th December 2023 under its new name - The Arc Cinema.
Only a few years after the Alhambra had closed, the Belfast Telegraph (6 April 1964) reported that Belfast City Council had rejected plans to build a cinema, dance hall and bowling alley complex on a site at 30/36 North Street, almost opposite the Alhambra. The applicant was Compton Cinemas, London. Could this possibly have been the same company which operated an adult cinema in the heart of London’s Soho from 1960 to the 1970s?
A year before the Imperial opened its doors, the possibility of another cinema opening nearby was being contemplated. Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT), having opened their Picture House in Royal Avenue in 1911, were looking at a second house in the city centre. To this end they had their eyes set on a site at 5/7 High Street (occupied by Hyams, clothiers and outfitters); the plan would have involved linking the rear of that building to an adjacent site which had its frontage at 12 Cornmarket (occupied by Linden’s “High class confectionery and pastry”) only a few doors away from the Imperial. Irish cinema historian and author Kevin Rockett says the project was considered too ambitious as it wouldn’t have produced an adequate return. It did not proceed.
Continuing with super cinemas which didn’t happen. In July 1946 it was reported that Rank had acquired the Picture House in Royal Avenue and adjoining property so a 5,000-seater cinema (the largest in the UK!), ballroom and café could be erected. A sum of £600,000 was said to be involved in the project. In August the same year, Kine Weekly gave the seating capacity as 3,000. However, the deal was not completed; reasons must surely have included post-WW2 restrictions on new building construction.
In March 1947 Curran Theatres acquired the Picture House; it was the local chain’s first incursion into the city centre. It’s been suggested that Curran’s subsequent refit, renovation and rebranding as the Regent was but stage 1 of a project which would eventually lead to demolishing the building and replacing it with a 3,000-seater. Stage 2, however, did not happen.
Frustrated with the lack of progress over the Picture House site, Rank cast its eye over other city centre sites. In 1948 planners, apparently, gave them permission to build a 3,000-seater cinema on an unnamed bomb-damaged site; this report proved to be unfounded. Nevertheless, in 1954 the Belfast Telegraph reported that construction of a 1,750-seater in Fountain Street (same site as 1948?) would commence in the autumn. This didn’t happen either! (Sources include ‘Cinemas and Cinema-Going in the United Kingdom Decades in Decline, 1945-65’ by Sam Manning, 2020 and ‘Standing Room Only’ by James Doherty, 1997.)
During the mid-1950s Rank’s acquisitions of the two leading local chains, Curran and Irish Theatres, changed their perspective on super-cinemas in the city centre. Instead of turning their attention back to the Picture House (by then the Regent) site, at the start of the Sixties Rank bought the Hippodrome and Grand Opera House which sat side-by-side in Great Victoria Street. These were turned into their flagship venues in the city centre. The outcome was that the Regent was, to some extent, sidelined. That said, they did spend money on it and changed its name to the Avenue in 1965.
Following-up on the last Comment, Irish film historian and writer Kevin Rockett said that Paramount’s attempt to enter the Belfast market in 1931 was unsuccessful. He quoted from a press report stating that its proposed super cinema was postponed due to the economic depression. Rockett didn’t give any details about the intended site and so it’s unclear if this was the same plan he was referring to in the following paragraph.
Rockett also writes that Paramount seemed to have become involved with the Picture House in Royal Avenue, with a view to erecting a super cinema there; this development would stretch onto an adjacent site. Progress on this plan was postponed. (Source: ‘Film Exhibition and Distribution in Ireland, 1909 - 2010’ by Kevin Rockett, Four Courts Press, 2011).
Further back, on 19 May 1925, the Belfast Telegraph, in a brief report, said that the Grand Central Hotel (the city’s premier hotel, which was close by the Picture House) was to be turned into a super cinema and restaurant. Nothing further came of that.
Belatedly responding to the comments of July 2, which I’ve only just seen - The idea of a cinema on this site was conceived by Strand Cinemas (Belfast) Ltd., a locally owned company. One of their directors, Harry Wilton, was already well-known in local cinema circles. The company purchased the site and plans drawn up by architect Thomas Guthrie were submitted to the City Surveyor on March 26, 1935. Around this time Union Cinemas took over the project. McBride Neil, who was already making a name for himself as a cinema designer, was appointed and his new plans were submitted and approved. Tt seems unlikely that McBride Neil would have borrowed from Guthrie’s ideas, but we shall probably never know as no trace of the latter’s plans have been seen. Harry Wilton was appointed as the new cinema’s first managing director.
By June 2023 the building had been been rebranded as IMC.
The cinema closed in April 2022. No official statement was made by IMC at the time but in reply to a tweet (29 April) the company said ‘it was closed for the foreseeable future’. The cinema is now on the market and still ‘fitted out for immediate use’. The commercial estate agent Osborne King states that ‘The front building is of modern construction with older original commercial buildings to the rear.’ The sale brochure also says that the buildings and car park run to 17,039sq.ft. (Source BelfastLive.Co.UK, 25 May 2022)
Following substantial refurbishment, this cinema was reopened by Christmas 2021 by the Movie@ cinema chain. It is now known as Movies@TheSquare.
Belfast City Council has given the green light for a new multiplex cinema, entertainment and retail complex on the 120,00 sq ft site formerly occupied by Catsle Court’s anchor store Debenham’s, which closed in 2021. The 9 luxury screens alongside a licenced bar would be operated by Omniplex, Ireland’s largest cinema chain, using its new luxury cinema brand, The Avenue. It’s no coincidence that is also the site where the original Avenue cinema (closed 1982) stood on. The new cinema is scheduled to open in December 2022.
As previously noted by popcorn_pete, the Ormond was taken over by Omniplex in January 2021 and rebranded. Since then there has been a prolonged period of what was referred to on their website as temporary closure. That’s all in the past now - the Omniplex Nenagh opened for business on 17th December 2021.
According to the Roscommon Herald, the C & L Plex was taken over by Omniplex on 8th August 2019. On 5th August the previous owners had announced that they were closing the doors with immediate effect. The paper also reported that Omniplex planned to reopen the cinema on 9th August.
In a press release on 27 September 2021, Cineworld announced that it was now recruiting staff for its first Northern Ireland cinema. The 13-screen (one more screen than previously) is due to open in November. The cinema has remained closed since 17 March 2020, initially as a result of the pandemic, while the fit-out takes place.
The conversion of the Strand from a single screen to a 4-screen in 1988 reduced the number of seats to 642 (see Overview for details). The current total is 608: Screen 1 – 250, Screen 2 – 180, Screen 3 – 98 and Screen 4 – 80.
In a post published on their website today, Movie House Cinemas has confirmed that the cinema will close on Sunday 26 April 2020. Michael McAdam, Managing Director of Movie House, said: “It’s the end of an era on the Dublin Road and we want to thank all our customers and staff teams for their support over the years."
Screens 1, 2, 3, 8 and 14 now have VIP seating (at no extra fee).
A £17m redevelopment of the Odyssey Pavilion, aimed at making it the “biggest leisure attraction” in Ireland, was announced on 17 October 2019 (sources: Belfast Telegraph and Belfast Live). The 12-screen cinema will change hands (date not yet made public), becoming the first Cineworld in Northern Ireland. The new owners intend to spend £4m on a rolling fit-out, providing “minimal disruption to visitors".
In a statement posted on its website on 14 August 2019, Movie House Cinemas said that Dublin Road will remain open in the autumn and possibly well beyond. The update revealed that Movie House Cinemas didn’t have an exact date for the cinema’s closure but further information would be posted when this was known.