Ideal Cinema
James Street,
Westport
James Street,
Westport
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Regal Cinema
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Located in Westport, County Mayo. The Regal Cinema was a conversion of the Grand Central Hall, which had been erected by Martin Fitzpatrick and Michael Flynn in 1937. Fitzpatrick later sold out to Michael Hoban and he and Flynn developed the building as a cinema, opening on 10th November 1946. It was destroyed by fire on 21st June 1947 when Flynn parted company with Hoban leaving him to reconstruct what was left of it.
It reopened as the Ideal Cinema on 21st October 1949 with an RCA sound system and Ross projectors installed. The first film to be shown was Yvonne De Carlo in “Casbah” and there was a grand opening dance the following Wednesday, the cinema doubling up as a ballroom. It was later leased to Tom Tunney and then to Film House of Dublin but was latterly in the hands of the Kilroys, who ran the garage next door, who sold it to the local authority in 1996. It was still screening films in 1991 when “Arachnophobia” was advertised and after that hosted discos and a fashion show. According to a press report it was demolished in 1997 for a town centre car park.
Contributed by
Gavin McGrath
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
The original cinema, the Regal, opened on 10 November 1946 with the owners evidently prosecuted in December of that year for having no licence. The fire occurred on 21 June 1947 and the site was advertised at auction in June 1948.