Tivoli Cinema
Lisburn Road, Finaghy,
Belfast,
BT10
Lisburn Road, Finaghy,
Belfast,
BT10
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Architect was John McBride Neill. In answer to JohnGn’s question, the last Gaumont to be re-branded to Odeon was the former Gaumont Palace in Doncaster, Yorkshire. This didn’t happen until as late as 1987.
Was this the last Rank cinema to receive the “Gaumont” name? By that time, Rank on the mainland was phasing out the Gaumont name, but there was a separate Odeon company in Northern Ireland which presumably had their own way of doing things Does anyone know if anything has been written about Rank’s activities in Northern Ireland?
This cinema was planned by Irish Theatres (one of the two largest locally owned chains at the time). In 1955, while the cinema was still under construction,Irish Theatres was acquired by Rank (Odeon), who opened it on 17 June that year.
After undergoing an extensive reconstruction, modernisation, creation of a separate circle and other improvements, the Tivoli reopened as the Gaumont on 26 December 1966 (not 1961). After Rank sold its Northern Irish estate to Belfast Cinemas (a local independent created for the purpose) in 1974, the Gaumont reverted to its original name (Gaumont being a trade mark of Rank), on 24 March 1975. The building has since been demolished and replaced by appartments.