The opening advertisement, which appeared in the Newtownards Chronicle, 21 March 1914, included the following line – ‘Whenever you come to Donaghadee, “Dinna forget” the wee “Picture Hoosie” down by the sea’. The opening report in the same paper on 28 March was essentially brief. It noted that a new and up to date projector had been installed but no seating details were given. The proprietor was named as Bob Evans but the first entry seen in the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory (1916) shows E. J. Evans as proprietor.
The KYB for 1927 shows D. Frazier as the lessee of the cinema although the street directory for 1930 still shows E. J. Evans as the proprietor. Perhaps Evans was the owner of premises and Frazier was the cinema operator (lessee). A period of closure followed in the early 1930s (dates not known). The Brevitees column in the County Down Spectator, 15 April 1933, in a couple of lines under the heading ‘Just think of it’, bemoans that ‘There is no cinema licence in Donaghadee. Our picture house requires a lessee. Anyone game?’ The KYB for 1934 shows T. Duffy as lessee so it appears that the cinema had reopened.
This new situation only persisted for a time because on 15 February 1936 the County Down Spectator announced that a new picture house will open on Monday next – 17 February 1936. The old name had been dropped and it was now called the Regal Cinema. The owners were Solar Cinemas, whose offices were in Corporation Street, Belfast. The cinema had been newly equipped with ‘the most up to date sound and talkie equipment in the country’. A new manager, Mr William McDonald, had also been appointed. Seating was given as 300, the same as previous.
The Regal may have closed around 6 April 1968. The last press advert seen was in the Newtownards Chronicle, 28 March 1968, which detailed
the programme to 6 April. There was no indication of any closure pending and no editorial coverage has been found.
In February 2019 it was announced that Copeland Gin are to transform the building on the former cinema site. The new premises will include a visitor centre, events space and fully-operational gin and whiskey distillery. Copeland Gin takes its name from the Copelands Islands, a group of three small islands north of Donaghadee.
The original cinema on this site was The Palace Unity De-Luxe which opened on 8 January 1921. It was a replacement for The Palace, also in Frances Street which had opened on 18 October 1913 as Our Picture House. Within a few weeks it had become Your Picture House. Then around 15 January 1916 it changed its name, again, to The Palace (possibly because the town’s other cinema was called The Picture House). The Palace (a wooden building) was destroyed by fire on 2 November 1918.
Robert Morrison, the owner of The Palace was determined to find a new, more suitable, building and purchased the former Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church premises at 15 Frances Street (the congregation had relocated). Members of this denomination were often referred to as Unitarians and this may have been the reason why Morrison initially included Unity in the name of his new cinema. He died in 1925 and the business was subsequently run by his son Campbell, who had been managing the cinema.
In an update posted on their website today, Movie House Cinemas announced that their Dublin Road cinema (due to close this month) will remain open until the end of August at least.
Within a few months of opening the Tonic, John O'Neill got into financial difficulties and had to sell his beloved cinema. The new owner, from November 1936, was Curran Theatres, one of the leading locally owned chains. By December 1956 it had become part of Odeon (Northern Ireland) Ltd. It was not until 3rd March 1969, however, that the Tonic name was dropped in favour of Odeon. In November 1974 it passed into local ownership again, this time as part of Belfast Cinemas Ltd. Around 7th March 1975 it reverted to the Tonic name and it remained that way until its closure on 29th October 1983.
On 1 June 2011 the Odeon/UCI group announced the acquisition of nine existing cinemas and two pipeline cinemas from Enterprises Enterprises (EE). Apart from three UCI cinemas and five Storm cinemas, the deal included the “recently acquired” Ormonde cinema at Stillorgan, according to the press release.
The previous owners of the Ormonde (prior to the sale to EE) were the O’Gorman family, who at that time, in partnership with the Spurling family, also owned two multiplexes in the Dublin area – Movies @ Dundrum and Movies @ Swords.
Regarding the claim that it was operated by Movies @ prior to the sale to EE; perhaps there was a level of management involvement by or co-operation with Movies @ in the period in question. For instance, the press ads in the Irish Times in the months prior to the sale to Odeon/UCI placed the Ormonde displays alongside the Movies @ displays, although they were not joint ads.
The Ormonde closed in early May 2011. It reopened on 12 July 2011 as a UCI; it was fully digital and able to show 3D features.
Odeon’s acquisition of the cinemas owned by Entertainment Enterprises (EE) took place in 2011, not 2010. The rebrand of Cavan would have taken place in 2012 at the earliest. See also entry on this website for Odeon, Point Square, Dublin which was the first Odeon in Ireland to officially carry the name there; it was rebranded in March 2012.
The Regent was opened on Christmas Eve 1938 by Solar Cinemas Ltd of Belfast. It was a new building designed by architect T. R. Eagar; the first manager was Harris Percy. The building was destroyed in an incendiary bomb attack on Sunday 9 October 1977; the final films shown were screened the day before. See also entry on Cinema Treasures for Ritz Cinema, Newtownards, which in its final years was also owned by Solar Cinemas Ltd.
The Sheridan group also developed and operated two Sheridan IMAX cinemas on the island of Ireland. As was the case with Bournemouth, both of these were short-lived ventures. Dublin, Ireland (Parnell Centre) operated from 1998 – 2000. Belfast, Northern Ireland (Odyssey Pavilion) operated from 2001 – 2007. See separate entries for both of these on this website.
The developer of the Odyssey Pavilion (part of Northern Ireland’s millennium project) was the Sheridan Group, who earlier had developed Belfast’s first purpose-built multiplex (for MGM at Dublin Road, opened in 1993 – see under Movie House Dublin Road entry on this website). Sheridan subsequently developed the Parnell Centre in Dublin (also for MGM, opened as a Virgin in 1995).
In 1998 the Sheridan IMAX, Ireland’s first IMAX, also opened in the Parnell Centre. It was a short-lived venture and closed in 2000. Undeterred by this set back, Sheridan opened the Sheridan IMAX in the Odyssey Pavilion the following year and slightly later, the Sheridan IMAX at the Bournemouth Waterfront (2002 – 2005).
The new seventeen screen UGC (incorporating the former IMAX space) opened in November 2003 – see separate entry on Cinema Treasures for Cineworld Dublin. The Sheridan IMAX in Belfast (opened 2001) and the Sheridan IMAX in Bournemouth (opened 2002) also proved to be short-lived ventures; there are separate entries for these on this website.
The Parnell Centre was the Sheridan Group’s second development for MGM Cinemas; their first, at Dublin Road in Belfast, opened in 1993. While the Parnell Centre was still under construction MGM was sold to Virgin Cinemas which meant that this new nine-screen multiplex (offering 2,337 seats overall) opened as a Virgin. Richard Branson performed the official opening ceremony on 16th November 1995. The design was by UK-based Watson Design.
Dublin was one of nineteen Virgin multiplexes sold to UGC Cinemas in October 1999, and subsequently renamed UGC. In 1998 Sheridan opened a Sheridan IMAX cinema in another part of the Parnell Centre. It was a short-lived venture and closed two years later – see separate entry in Cinema Treasures. The UGC closed in 2003, in order to expand and incorporate the site of the former IMAX. Writing in ‘The History of Dublin Cinemas’ (2007), Marc Zimmermann said that by this stage the former Virgin Cinema had lost most of its original identity – its name, entrance and lobby, essentially becoming a new cinema.The new UGC, which was almost double the size of the old cinema, opened
in stages during the second week of November 2003.
By December 2004 the cinema’s ownership had changed again, UGC having been acquired by Cineworld. It would be around 12th August 2005, though, before the cinema adopted its current name.
It was announced on 12th February 2019 that the cinema would close by the end of May 2019. The building has been sold for more than £7m to Belfast-based software company Kainos, who plan to turn the site into its new headquarters.
Movie House managing director Michael McAdam said the decison had been made with “a heavy heart”. He also said that they had recently seen a big shift in attendance out of Belfast city centre to surburban cinemas, which offer free parking. He hoped to be in a position to offer jobs to the cinema’s 33 full and part-time staff.
The last business day under ABC ownership was Saturday 16th July 1966. The first films shown by the new owners, Solar Cinemas Ltd of Belfast, were screened on the following Monday, the 18th. Solar, who also owned the town’s other cinema, the Regent, retained the Ritz name.
However, the new set-up was relatively shortlived. Solar subsequently did a deal to sell the premises and as a consequence the decades of film shows at the Ritz came to an end on Saturday 4th November 1967.
According to ‘Bangor An Historical Gazetteer’ (by Marcus Patton, UAHS, 1999), John O'Neill founded the Tonic Bus Service (which ran from Bangor to Donaghadee). Having sold the business to the N I Road Transport Board, he invested the anticipated proceeds in a cinema, named after his bus service; the cinema cost £76,000. It has been described as the finest example of cinema architecture in the province and at the time of opening was the second largest on the island of
Ireland.
The original Light House cinema was located on Middle Abbey Street (see separate entry on Cinema Treasures).
A new government-funded cinema was opened in nearby Smithfield in 2008. It briefly closed in 2011 following the Dublin property crash but was acquired by NAMA.
In 2012, the cinema was taken over by Element Pictures and reopened.
Additional Screen info: Screen 1 – 279; Screen 2 – 153; Screen 3 – 116; Screen 4 – 68.
Ireland’s first Odeon cinema (not to be confused with some independent operators who had used the Odeon name at one time or another) officially opened on 27th March 2012. It was Odeon’s first ISENSE screen installed in the UK or Ireland.
This cinema opened as a UCI in December 2009. At that time UCI’s Irish
cinemas were owned by Entertainment Enterprises and managed by Odeon. It was sold to Odeon (along with eight other cinemas and two pipeline developments) in 2011 and subsequently renamed.
In June 2006, the opening date for Storm’s fourth cinema (at Belfast Odyssey Pavilion), Naas had not yet opened. However, when Entertainment Enterprises acquired Storm’s Irish cinemas in 2008 (with the exception of Belfast), Naas was one of the fives names on the list.
The Pálás Cinema is run and operated by Element Pictures – https://elementpictures.ie/, who also run and operate the Lighthouse Dublin and the Road House Cinema.
The opening advertisement, which appeared in the Newtownards Chronicle, 21 March 1914, included the following line – ‘Whenever you come to Donaghadee, “Dinna forget” the wee “Picture Hoosie” down by the sea’. The opening report in the same paper on 28 March was essentially brief. It noted that a new and up to date projector had been installed but no seating details were given. The proprietor was named as Bob Evans but the first entry seen in the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory (1916) shows E. J. Evans as proprietor.
The KYB for 1927 shows D. Frazier as the lessee of the cinema although the street directory for 1930 still shows E. J. Evans as the proprietor. Perhaps Evans was the owner of premises and Frazier was the cinema operator (lessee). A period of closure followed in the early 1930s (dates not known). The Brevitees column in the County Down Spectator, 15 April 1933, in a couple of lines under the heading ‘Just think of it’, bemoans that ‘There is no cinema licence in Donaghadee. Our picture house requires a lessee. Anyone game?’ The KYB for 1934 shows T. Duffy as lessee so it appears that the cinema had reopened.
This new situation only persisted for a time because on 15 February 1936 the County Down Spectator announced that a new picture house will open on Monday next – 17 February 1936. The old name had been dropped and it was now called the Regal Cinema. The owners were Solar Cinemas, whose offices were in Corporation Street, Belfast. The cinema had been newly equipped with ‘the most up to date sound and talkie equipment in the country’. A new manager, Mr William McDonald, had also been appointed. Seating was given as 300, the same as previous.
The Regal may have closed around 6 April 1968. The last press advert seen was in the Newtownards Chronicle, 28 March 1968, which detailed the programme to 6 April. There was no indication of any closure pending and no editorial coverage has been found.
In February 2019 it was announced that Copeland Gin are to transform the building on the former cinema site. The new premises will include a visitor centre, events space and fully-operational gin and whiskey distillery. Copeland Gin takes its name from the Copelands Islands, a group of three small islands north of Donaghadee.
The Picture House opened on 25 March 1914; the proprietor was named as Bob Evans.
The original cinema on this site was The Palace Unity De-Luxe which opened on 8 January 1921. It was a replacement for The Palace, also in Frances Street which had opened on 18 October 1913 as Our Picture House. Within a few weeks it had become Your Picture House. Then around 15 January 1916 it changed its name, again, to The Palace (possibly because the town’s other cinema was called The Picture House). The Palace (a wooden building) was destroyed by fire on 2 November 1918.
Robert Morrison, the owner of The Palace was determined to find a new, more suitable, building and purchased the former Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church premises at 15 Frances Street (the congregation had relocated). Members of this denomination were often referred to as Unitarians and this may have been the reason why Morrison initially included Unity in the name of his new cinema. He died in 1925 and the business was subsequently run by his son Campbell, who had been managing the cinema.
In an update posted on their website today, Movie House Cinemas announced that their Dublin Road cinema (due to close this month) will remain open until the end of August at least.
Within a few months of opening the Tonic, John O'Neill got into financial difficulties and had to sell his beloved cinema. The new owner, from November 1936, was Curran Theatres, one of the leading locally owned chains. By December 1956 it had become part of Odeon (Northern Ireland) Ltd. It was not until 3rd March 1969, however, that the Tonic name was dropped in favour of Odeon. In November 1974 it passed into local ownership again, this time as part of Belfast Cinemas Ltd. Around 7th March 1975 it reverted to the Tonic name and it remained that way until its closure on 29th October 1983.
On 1 June 2011 the Odeon/UCI group announced the acquisition of nine existing cinemas and two pipeline cinemas from Enterprises Enterprises (EE). Apart from three UCI cinemas and five Storm cinemas, the deal included the “recently acquired” Ormonde cinema at Stillorgan, according to the press release.
The previous owners of the Ormonde (prior to the sale to EE) were the O’Gorman family, who at that time, in partnership with the Spurling family, also owned two multiplexes in the Dublin area – Movies @ Dundrum and Movies @ Swords.
Regarding the claim that it was operated by Movies @ prior to the sale to EE; perhaps there was a level of management involvement by or co-operation with Movies @ in the period in question. For instance, the press ads in the Irish Times in the months prior to the sale to Odeon/UCI placed the Ormonde displays alongside the Movies @ displays, although they were not joint ads.
The Ormonde closed in early May 2011. It reopened on 12 July 2011 as a UCI; it was fully digital and able to show 3D features.
Odeon’s acquisition of the cinemas owned by Entertainment Enterprises (EE) took place in 2011, not 2010. The rebrand of Cavan would have taken place in 2012 at the earliest. See also entry on this website for Odeon, Point Square, Dublin which was the first Odeon in Ireland to officially carry the name there; it was rebranded in March 2012.
The Regent was opened on Christmas Eve 1938 by Solar Cinemas Ltd of Belfast. It was a new building designed by architect T. R. Eagar; the first manager was Harris Percy. The building was destroyed in an incendiary bomb attack on Sunday 9 October 1977; the final films shown were screened the day before. See also entry on Cinema Treasures for Ritz Cinema, Newtownards, which in its final years was also owned by Solar Cinemas Ltd.
By 4th May 2012 two more screens had been added, taking the total number to eight.
The Sheridan group also developed and operated two Sheridan IMAX cinemas on the island of Ireland. As was the case with Bournemouth, both of these were short-lived ventures. Dublin, Ireland (Parnell Centre) operated from 1998 – 2000. Belfast, Northern Ireland (Odyssey Pavilion) operated from 2001 – 2007. See separate entries for both of these on this website.
The developer of the Odyssey Pavilion (part of Northern Ireland’s millennium project) was the Sheridan Group, who earlier had developed Belfast’s first purpose-built multiplex (for MGM at Dublin Road, opened in 1993 – see under Movie House Dublin Road entry on this website). Sheridan subsequently developed the Parnell Centre in Dublin (also for MGM, opened as a Virgin in 1995).
In 1998 the Sheridan IMAX, Ireland’s first IMAX, also opened in the Parnell Centre. It was a short-lived venture and closed in 2000. Undeterred by this set back, Sheridan opened the Sheridan IMAX in the Odyssey Pavilion the following year and slightly later, the Sheridan IMAX at the Bournemouth Waterfront (2002 – 2005).
The new seventeen screen UGC (incorporating the former IMAX space) opened in November 2003 – see separate entry on Cinema Treasures for Cineworld Dublin. The Sheridan IMAX in Belfast (opened 2001) and the Sheridan IMAX in Bournemouth (opened 2002) also proved to be short-lived ventures; there are separate entries for these on this website.
The Parnell Centre was the Sheridan Group’s second development for MGM Cinemas; their first, at Dublin Road in Belfast, opened in 1993. While the Parnell Centre was still under construction MGM was sold to Virgin Cinemas which meant that this new nine-screen multiplex (offering 2,337 seats overall) opened as a Virgin. Richard Branson performed the official opening ceremony on 16th November 1995. The design was by UK-based Watson Design.
Dublin was one of nineteen Virgin multiplexes sold to UGC Cinemas in October 1999, and subsequently renamed UGC. In 1998 Sheridan opened a Sheridan IMAX cinema in another part of the Parnell Centre. It was a short-lived venture and closed two years later – see separate entry in Cinema Treasures. The UGC closed in 2003, in order to expand and incorporate the site of the former IMAX. Writing in ‘The History of Dublin Cinemas’ (2007), Marc Zimmermann said that by this stage the former Virgin Cinema had lost most of its original identity – its name, entrance and lobby, essentially becoming a new cinema.The new UGC, which was almost double the size of the old cinema, opened in stages during the second week of November 2003.
By December 2004 the cinema’s ownership had changed again, UGC having been acquired by Cineworld. It would be around 12th August 2005, though, before the cinema adopted its current name.
It was announced on 12th February 2019 that the cinema would close by the end of May 2019. The building has been sold for more than £7m to Belfast-based software company Kainos, who plan to turn the site into its new headquarters.
Movie House managing director Michael McAdam said the decison had been made with “a heavy heart”. He also said that they had recently seen a big shift in attendance out of Belfast city centre to surburban cinemas, which offer free parking. He hoped to be in a position to offer jobs to the cinema’s 33 full and part-time staff.
The last business day under ABC ownership was Saturday 16th July 1966. The first films shown by the new owners, Solar Cinemas Ltd of Belfast, were screened on the following Monday, the 18th. Solar, who also owned the town’s other cinema, the Regent, retained the Ritz name.
However, the new set-up was relatively shortlived. Solar subsequently did a deal to sell the premises and as a consequence the decades of film shows at the Ritz came to an end on Saturday 4th November 1967.
According to ‘Bangor An Historical Gazetteer’ (by Marcus Patton, UAHS, 1999), John O'Neill founded the Tonic Bus Service (which ran from Bangor to Donaghadee). Having sold the business to the N I Road Transport Board, he invested the anticipated proceeds in a cinema, named after his bus service; the cinema cost £76,000. It has been described as the finest example of cinema architecture in the province and at the time of opening was the second largest on the island of Ireland.
Its successor, a brand new four-screen Light House cinema, was opened in 2008 in the nearby Smithfield area – see separate entry on Cinema Treasures.
The original Light House cinema was located on Middle Abbey Street (see separate entry on Cinema Treasures). A new government-funded cinema was opened in nearby Smithfield in 2008. It briefly closed in 2011 following the Dublin property crash but was acquired by NAMA. In 2012, the cinema was taken over by Element Pictures and reopened. Additional Screen info: Screen 1 – 279; Screen 2 – 153; Screen 3 – 116; Screen 4 – 68.
Ireland’s first Odeon cinema (not to be confused with some independent operators who had used the Odeon name at one time or another) officially opened on 27th March 2012. It was Odeon’s first ISENSE screen installed in the UK or Ireland.
This cinema opened as a UCI in December 2009. At that time UCI’s Irish cinemas were owned by Entertainment Enterprises and managed by Odeon. It was sold to Odeon (along with eight other cinemas and two pipeline developments) in 2011 and subsequently renamed.
In June 2006, the opening date for Storm’s fourth cinema (at Belfast Odyssey Pavilion), Naas had not yet opened. However, when Entertainment Enterprises acquired Storm’s Irish cinemas in 2008 (with the exception of Belfast), Naas was one of the fives names on the list.
The Storm Cinema appears to have opened in 2001, following the opening of Storm’s first cinema, in Cavan, the previous year.
By 20th January 2006 it had been rebranded as Vue.
Cinema World is part of Cork Cinemas, who also operate three Gate cinemas – at Cork, Mallow and Midleton. http://www.corkcinemas.com/home.php
The Pálás Cinema is run and operated by Element Pictures – https://elementpictures.ie/, who also run and operate the Lighthouse Dublin and the Road House Cinema.