Regal Cinema

Torchlight on August 11, 2019 at 1:52 am

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.