Melbourne Electric Theatre

This early picture house was completely ignored by the first two Belfast cinema authors. Fortunately, the third book, Tom Hughes’ How Belfast Saw the Light (2014), saw fit to record it for posterity.

It was 1912 and the management (Entertainment Halls Ltd.) of St. George’s Hall in Belfast’s High Street was becoming increasingly concerned. St. George’s was Belfast’s first cinema when it opened in 1908, or to be precise as to detail, the first without a theatrical background. Business prospered for the first few years but by 1912 increased competition meant that prospects were now far less rosy. Something had to be done and the management’s answer was to expand their operations by opening another cinema.

The site selected was in an inner-city district - the lower Shankill. The building in Melbourne Street (off Brown’s Square) was a former Methodist Mission Hall. Advertised as ‘a picture house for the masses’, the Melbourne Electric Theatre opened on Monday 1st April 1912. Described as ‘spacious, lofty and well ventilated’ by the Belfast Telegraph, seating was provided for around 400 patrons. Films were presented twice nightly with ‘the people’s prices’ (2d and 4d) designed to appeal to the working-class population who lived within the catchment area. Mr. William Robinson had been appointed to supervise the enterprise with Mr. Rodgers (manager of St. George’s) in overall control.

Entries for the Melbourne appeared in the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory for 1913 and 1914 but there’s no sign of it in the 1915 edition. It looks as if it had closed in 1914, which would tie-in with the possible closure of St. George’s Hall that same year. The Melbourne Electric Theatre was run on a shoe-string and simply couldn’t compete with the new cinemas, offering more comfortable seating, better surroundings and superior equipment.

Following the closure, the building reverted to its previous roots, as a mission hall. The premises are long gone and the site itself has disappeared under the West Link (A12) dual-carriageway (opened 1981) which connects the M1 and M2 / M3 motorways.

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