Park Cinema
Oldpark Road and Torrens Avenue,
Belfast,
BT14
Oldpark Road and Torrens Avenue,
Belfast,
BT14
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The Park Cinema, situated at the junction of Oldpark Road and Torrens Avenue, opened on 12th December 1936 with a charity performance of “The Three Musketeers” starring Walter Able. It opened to the public on 14th December 1936 with “Captain Blood” starring Errol Flynn. It was advertised as “Belfast’s Latest Luxury Cinema”, a rather pretentious claim as, on 12th December 1936, the Broadway Cinema and Curzon Cinema also opened!
Despite appearing to prosper, the Park Cinema suddenly closed in 1971. But with a new determination it reopened on 1st May 1972, only to be badly damaged by an IRA bomb less than a month later, on 27th May, after which it closed for good. The building stood derelict for many years, and was still standing in 1996, when a planning application was submitted to develop the site as a petrol station and Spar supermarket. By 2018 the site is used for car parking.
Contributed by
David Simpson
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The Park was the first cinema opened in Belfast by Supreme Cinemas, one of the largest of the locally owned chains. Supreme’s other cinemas, at that time, were all located in provincial towns.In its last years the Park was owned by Park Cinema (Belfast) Ltd., which appears to have been a sister company of Rex Cinema (Belfast) Ltd. (see KYB 1970)
Architect of the Park Cinemas was Thomas Robert Eager.