1937 – Stadium Cinema, Shankill Road, Belfast

The Stadium Cinema, located at the junction of Shankill Road and Tennent Street, was the largest single-level cinema in Northern Ireland, with seating for 1400 on a stadium plan that had a raised stepped section at the rear. It had a huge circular 46ft diameter foyer and the longest auditorium, at 180ft, in Belfast. It opened to great acclaim on 16th October 1937 with Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers in “Follow the Fleet”. It was closed on 13th March 1976.

Photograph Copyright Belfast Telegraph / National Museums NI