Shaftesbury Pictoria
6 Shaftesbury Square,
Belfast,
BT2 7DA
6 Shaftesbury Square,
Belfast,
BT2 7DA
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1910 was the year cinema in Belfast really took off, with the opening of no less than five cinemas. Three of those were within a few days of each other, in the month of December. The Shaftesbury Pictoria was the last one of those five cinemas to open.
The Shaftesbury Pictoria was clearly not in the business of understatement as can be demonstrated by their opening advertisement. It read as follows - “The Most Luxurious and Comfortable Picture Palace in Ireland. Artistic and Refined, Entertaining, Amusing, and Instructive. The Highest form of Cinematographic Art."
The proprietor of the Shaftesbury Pictoria was Belfast Electric Theatres Ltd. In their planning application, Isidore Clifford (with a London address) was named as President (a title perhaps suggestive of an American connection?).
Belfast architects Moore & Flanagan of Royal Avenue was commissioned to convert the building, previously occupied by a confectioner, for its new role. A lease for twenty-one years at an annual rent of £110 was agreed.
The Northern Whig reported that the exterior of the premises was painted white and cream and brightly lit with a row of electric bulbs, resulting in “a handsome and ornate appearance”. Inside the building the seats were plush and roomy. Two projectors were used to ensure continuity during the performances while a lone pianist provided the accompanying music. Using a layout, a unique one for Belfast cinemas, the screen was placed on the wall closest to Shaftesbury Square (apparently for safety and security reasons). This meant that the audience was facing the entrance and had to contend with varying degrees of irritation due to the comings and goings every time the door opened during the continuous performances.
Barely five months after opening for business the company was wound up. The liquidator blamed the Shaftesbury Pictoria’s closure on lack of sufficient capital, an unreliable film supply and overpriced seats. The middle-class audiences which the Pictoria appeared to be targeting clearly didn’t support it in sufficient numbers. Tom Hughes, in How Belfast Saw the Light (2014), makes matters crystal clear. For much of the time during its short life the Pictoria was only half-full. Incidentally, during that time it was sometimes known as the Pictoria or the Picture House Shaftesbury Square.
The Pictoria reopened under new ownership on Saturday 30th December 1911. Ulster Electric Theatres was named as the proprietor in the Kine Year Book (1914), with seating stated as 200. A new and experienced manager, E. P. Baskeyfield, was appointed (the manager in 1913 was W. Liddle). The building had been completely renovated and repainted outside and inside. Prices were also set more realistically than previously, at 6d for all performances and half price for children. Despite all this the Pictoria was ultimately unsuccessful (seating capacity must have been a factor in its demise) and appears to have closed in early 1917. The premises are shown as vacant in the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory for that year. Carlton House, previously an office block and derelict for many years, currently occupies the site of the former cinema.
There has been a difference of opinion regarding the precise site of the Shaftesbury Pictoria. James Doherty, in his book Standing Room Only (1997), was convinced it was on the south side of the Square (in Oxford Buildings, though he doesn’t name it) but provided no evidence to support his point of view. During the short period of the Pictoria’s existence, Oxford House’s sole occupant was Ferris Bros (drapers and clothiers).
The address of the cinema was listed in the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory (1913) as 6 Shaftesbury Square; this would place it on the east side of the Square. Starting at the corner with Fulton Street, the Pictoria was the third unit in Shaftesbury Buildings, a 4-storey terrace which was occupied by a number of retailers and other businesses including the Northern Bank (some sources say it was a 3-storey terrace but photographic evidence disproves that). Tom Hughes’s How Belfast Saw the Light (2014) has the most substantial piece on this cinema of any of the three authors who have written books on Belfast cinemas. He had obtained sight of the planning application and so was able to pinpoint the precise location.