Palladium Cinema
Society Street,
Coleraine,
BT52
Society Street,
Coleraine,
BT52
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Irish Cinemas Ltd., Odeon (Ireland) Ltd., Rank Organisation
Styles: Art Deco
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Located in Coleraine, County Londonderry. The Palladium Cinema was opened in 1932. It originally boasted a café for the convenience of its patrons. It was destroyed by fire in 1936. It was immediately rebuilt. Operated as an independent cinema and then operated by Irish Cinemas Ltd. from 1945. In 1955 it was taken over by the Rank Organisation and in 1963 it was taken over by Odeon Theatres(Ireland) Ltd., a part of the Rank Organisation. It was listed as being operated by Shaun Henry in 1980 (possibly taken over by him around 1974). The Palladium Cinema was closed in August 1990, just one week after the Jet Centre Cinema opened on the outskirts of town.
The Palladium Cinema was converted into a bingo club, and this operated during the 1990’s and into the early-2000’s. There were many plans put forward to build flats on the site, and eventually one of these plans was accepted in 2008. Demolition of the building began on 10th March 2008. There were hopes that some of the equipment, fixtures and fitting would be saved, but this was not to be.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
My photograph was taken in November 1998. The building was up for sale, and not in any obvious use at that time.
The Palladium opened in 1932 but was destroyed by fire in September 1936. Rebuilt almost immediately and lasted until August 1990. Source: The Bann Disc, Coleraine Historical Society.
Around 1934 or 1935, Mr. J. Menary, previously associated with the Adelphi Kinema, Bangor, Co. Down, bought the Palladium in Coleraine. Nine or ten years later (Kine Year Book, 1944), the proprietor was listed as the Coleraine Palladium Cinema Co., Raymond Stross Cinemas, College Street, Belfast. Raymond Stross, best known as a film producer, had, in the early 1940s, bought the Kelvin Cinema in Belfast city centre (see entry on Cinema Treasures for Classic Cinema, Belfast).
Shortly after his Coleraine acquisition, Menary bought a newly built cinema in the nearby seaside resort of Portstewart, which he renamed the Palladium. The latter he also sold to Stross. Stross didn’t hold on to either of these cinemas for long, selling them by 1945 to Irish Theatres Ltd.
The Coleraine and Portstewart Palladiums were included in a package of eleven cinemas sold by Irish Theatres (one of the largest cinema chains in Northern Ireland) to Rank in 1955. However, neither of them were included in the sale by Rank of its Northern Ireland estate to Belfast Cinemas in 1974.
As already noted in the current Overview, Shaun Henry was the proprietor of the Palladium, Coleraine in 1980. It may be the case that he acquired this cinema from Rank, by or around 1974.