Ritz Cinema

The Hibernian opened on 20 May 1945 with “In Society”, an Abbott and Costello film, and was designed by Michael Scott from Dublin. It was run by County Cinemas and most of the staff came from the County Cinema including the manager Packy Holmes. It had a Western Electric sound system fitted along with 920 seats (250 of them in the semi-circular balcony) although this had been reduced to 770 by 1971. It closed at the end of 1988 to be converted into a twin-screen cinema and reopened as the Ritz on 3 March 1989. The film “Cocktail” with Tom Cruise was one of the films shown in the new 310-seat house. It is believed to have closed in 2002 shortly before the IMC opened in the town.