Avenue Cinema
Royal Avenue and Garfield Street,
Belfast,
BT1 1DD
Royal Avenue and Garfield Street,
Belfast,
BT1 1DD
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Curran Theatres, Odeon (Ireland) Ltd., Provincial Cinematograph Theatres Ltd., Rank Organisation
Architects: Francis Thomas Verity
Styles: Neo-Classical
Previous Names: Picture House, Regent Cinema
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The Picture House was opened on 19th June 1911 by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres(PCT). It was located on a corner site at the corner of Royal Avenue and Garfield Street. It was within a building containing offices and shops. Without the advertising signage, there would have been no indication that the building contained a cinema. The Picture House had a 29 feet wide proscenium and an added facility was a café for the convenience of patrons. In 1922 it was taken over by Northern Theatres.
The Picture House had one main claim to fame, as it was the first cinema in Northern Ireland to screen ‘talkies’, when Al Jolson in "The Singing Fool" played for eight weeks, four times a day in 1929. In 1947 it was taken over by the Curran Theatres chain and re-named Regent Cinema after a refurbishment in September 1947. The re-opening was attended by film star John Mills, and he was the star of the main feature film "So Well Remembered".
The Curran Theatres chain were taken over by Odeon (Northern Ireland) Ltd. part of the Rank Organisation in December 1956. In March 1961, Rank purchased the surrounding buildings, and there was speculation about the future of the Gaumont (former Classic) in Castle Lane, a Rank Organisation subsidiary which closed in 1961 and was sold & demolished to build a British Home Stores. The Rank Organisation decided to modernise their Hippodrome Theatre, after which, the Hippodrome was re-named Odeon and was finally renamed New Vic Cinema. The Regent Cinema was modernised by the Rank Organisation in 1965 and it was re-named Avenue Cinema.
In 1974, the Avenue Cinema was damaged in an IRA bomb attack on the nearby Grand Central Hotel, which at the time was being used as Headquarters for the British Army. The cinema was repaired and the Rank Organisation pulled out of the leases of their Northern Ireland cinemas and they were transferred to the locally owned Belfast Cinemas Co. which was set up to acquire Rank’s Northern Ireland cinemas in 1974.
The Avenue Cinema was closed on 23rd October 1982, and was converted into a bingo club for a couple of years. It and the entire building were demolished in 1987, and the new CastleCourt shopping centre was built on the site.
It was announced in March 2022 that the former Debenhams department store in the CastleCourt shopping centre would be altered to build within it a new 9-screen Omniplex cinema. That was scheduled to open in December 2022, but was eventually opened on 10th March 2023. As it is on the original site of the Avenue Cinema it is called, appropriately, The Avenue (see separate Cinema Treasures entry).
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
The Picture House was opened on 19 June 1911 by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres Ltd (PCT). Due, possibly, to the civil unrest in the city in the early 1920s, PCT pulled out (in 1922) and the cinema was taken over by the building’s landlords, who formed a company called Northern Theatres to run it. In 1965 Rank undertook a complete modernisation of the cinema which included the installation of the most up-to-date projection equipment (to bring it up to ‘London West End standards’). Rank also changed its name to the Avenue (its nickname but never its official name) from 7 June 1965. In 1974 Rank pulled out of Northern Ireland and a local operator (Belfast Cinemas Ltd) took over; it retained the Avenue name until the cinemas eventual closure.
Closed 23 October 1982
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.
In 1931, Francis Thomas Verity (to give him his full name) drew up plans, or acted as consultant for “Designs (or consultant for) ‘super cinema’ (probably a refurbishment of the Belfast Picture House, for which see Marcus Patton, |Central Belfast: an historical gazetteer|” taken from the notes on Ireland’s Architects.
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.
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.