Palladium Cinema
19 The Promenade,
Portstewart,
BT55 7AD
19 The Promenade,
Portstewart,
BT55 7AD
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Cinema
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Located in Portstewart, County Londonderry. Opened as the Cinema prior to 1931, by 1937 it had been re-named Palladium Cinema and was equipped with a British Thomson Houston(BTH) sound system. A new addition to the building was the Regal Dance Hall. The Palladium Cinema is listed in the 1940 Kine Year Book with 700 seats (and, rather endearingly, “Matinee when wet”!). Seating was provided in stalls and circle levels. By 1946 it was operated by Irish Theatres Ltd. and the seating capacity had been reduced to 409-seats. It was equipped with a RCA sound system. It was operated by the Shiels family until at least 1974.
In September 2008, when my photograph was taken, the cinema building was occupied by an amusement arcade, Ocean Beach Amusements. The former auditorium must be behind the shops - note the small entrance to Ocean Beach Amusements between Roughans newsagents and the Harbour Café. Unfortunately, the entrance was closed when I visited.
The Palladium Cinema was demolished in January 2022.
Contributed by
David Simpson
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The Kine Year Book for 1927 includes an entry for the Picture House, Portstewart and its proprietor and resident manager J. (James) McCrory. Only a few years earlier J. McCrory had taken over the Picture Palace, the town’s first cinema. By 1927 he had changed its name to the Picture House (see separate Cinema Treasures entry).
As told by his granddaughter Peggie Murray in a letter, James McCrory, born Portstewart 1865, emigrated to Australia but returned to his homeland in 1912. Within a few years he had built his cinema (later to become known as the Palladium) on the Promenade.
By 1931, the Kine Year Book was listing the Cinema (with a capital C), proprietor and resident manager J. McCrory. There was no longer an entry for the Picture House (former Picture Palace). By 1935 the Cinema had been sold to James Menary, who only recently had bought the Palladium cinema in Coleraine (four miles from Portstewart). The K.Y.B. (1935) indicated that a British Thomson sound system had been installed. By 1937 more big changes had occurred; there was a new name in place – the Palladium. Seating had doubled from 350 to 700 and attached to the cinema was another new attraction, the Regal Dance Hall.
Around 1944, Raymond Stross Cinemas took over the Palladium cinemas in Coleraine and Portstewart. Raymond Stross, best known as a film producer, didn’t hang on to either Portstewart or Coleraine for long, selling both to Irish Theatres Ltd by 1946.
Irish Theatres was sold to the Rank Organisation in 1955. The Palladium was not included in the sale of Rank’s Northern Ireland cinemas to Belfast Cinemas Ltd in 1974. Perhaps Rank sold it to the Shiels family which the Overview says operated the Palladium until at least 1974.
Proprietor James Menary never owned a cinema in the nearby seaside town of Portrush. However, in April 1939 he opened the Palladium Ballroom and Café there, in Causeway Street. The Palladium Ballroom was a go-to destination for a number of years until the arrival, during the 1950s, of the Arcadia Ballroom. Its popularity dented by the newcomer, in 1964 the Palladium Ballroom was put up for sale. The estate agent’s blurb said it was a ‘Former Cinema Building’ but where is the evidence that films were ever shown there? It was purchased by St. Patrick’s Church (opposite) who continue to use it as a church hall.
The Regal Dance Hall attached to the Palladium Cinema in Portstewart appears to have closed when Menary sold his cinema to Stross (there’s no sign of it in subsequent K.Y.B’s.).