Gaumont Belfast
13-25 Castle Lane,
Belfast,
BT1 1GB
13-25 Castle Lane,
Belfast,
BT1 1GB
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Gaumont-British Picture Corp., Ltd., Provincial Cinematograph Theatres Ltd., Rank Organisation
Styles: Baroque
Previous Names: Classic Cinema
Nearby Theaters
The Classic Cinema opened on 24th December 1923 with “Chu-Chin-Chow”. Initially an independent, it was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres(PCT) in August 1928, and from February 1929 PCT were taken over by the Gaumont British Theatres chain.
The Classic Cinema was the ‘premier’ cinema in Belfast at that time. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer theatre organ in 1927 with organist Leslie Simpson opening the instrument. The cinema also had a cafe and dance hall attached.
It was re-named Gaumont Theatre from 3rd July 1950 and was closed by the Rank Organisation on 30th September 1961. The building was demolished and a BHS department store was built on the site.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Bertie Crewe designed at least one other theater in Balfast besides the Royal Hippdrome/New Vic, though I don’t know if the project was carried out or not, and if it was I don’t know its name. The August 8, 1915, issue of The Building News said that demolition of the Theatre Royal had begun, and that the house was to be replaced by a modern picture theatre of 1,500 seats, which had been designed by the architect of the Royal Hippodrome, Mr. Crewe.
this web page has a history of the Theatre Royal, but nothing about its fate. It says that the theater was on Arthur Square, which Bing Maps (Google doesn’t identify it, and the intersection has been closed to traffic so Google’s street view camera never captured it) informs me was a small open area just east of the intersection of Castle Lane and Arthur Street, which is a half block east of the site of the Gaumont Belfast. Unless the theater that was to have replaced the Theatre Royal was never built, there must have been another large house in the neighborhood of the Gaumont that we don’t have listed yet.
Looking at Bing Maps' bird’s eye view, there’s a modern building on the southwest corner of Castle Lane and Arthur Street which looks like its parcel is big enough to have once held a theater, though 1,500 seats would have been a tight squeeze. The only other likely site would have been the southeast corner of William Street South and Ann Street, where Bing’s view, dated this year, shows modern construction underway.
An undated picture of the Gaumont Belfast can be seen here.
Joe; The replacement cinema on the site of the Theatre Royal was the Royal Cinema. I have now given it a page on Cinema Treasures.
To help Joe, and Ken, the Theatre Royal wasn’t completely demolished, but instead, remodelled into the Royal Cinema. The architect for this work was Bertie Crewe, he submitted plans for the remodelling of the TR in 1915. The design was similar to that used in London a few years earlier.
A second architect is noted for this change of use to cinema use. I’m guessing that he was the ‘on site’ architect perhaps, with Bertie Crewe remaining in London mainly? Architect of this cinema was Samuel Stevenson. New cinema. Tenders invited, Aug 1922; ‘nearing completion’, Aug 1923. Contractor: Robert Gilchrist. A ‘colonnaded four-story building with semi-circular corner entrance, whose manager and thirty-piece orchestra changed into evening dress after 5 o'clock each day’ (Patton)