Picture House

Publican Peter Doherty was the proprietor of the Anchor Bar, established in 1898 on Portstewart’s Main Street near The Diamond (later this street became The Promenade, hence the change of address). In 1915, next door to his bar Doherty built the Picture Palace, the town’s first cinema, and a house for the use of its manager; circa 1919 this was Victor Vernon. Seating was provided for 300 patrons and there were matinees on Saturdays and wet afternoons. Variety shows with local artists featured on some programmes. In 1919 Bert L. Dempster played the piano to accompany the silent films. Sometimes the proprietor’s daughter Maisie tinkled the ivories. Maisie also drove one of her father’s three 18-seater buses. Doherty owned a local bus company which provided a regular half-an-hour service between Portstewart and Coleraine (four miles away).

Within a few years of opening Peter Doherty decided to sell “Peter’s Picture House” (a name the locals gave it) as a going and profitable concern so he could concentrate on his other businesses. Around 1922 J. McCrory became the Picture Palace’s new proprietor. By 1927 he had renamed it the Picture House. Although the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory continued to list the Picture House until 1936, it is more likely (relying on the Kine Year Book entries) that it had closed by 1931. For more on J. (James) McCrory, see entry for the Palladium Cinema, Portstewart on Cinema Treasures.

Today the Anchor Bar Complex, which includes a hotel and nightclub, stands on the site of the original Anchor bar and the Picture Palace.

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