Pen/watercolour
A4
framed
£150 for the original with frame.
Prints are available for £20.00.
Prices for P&P available on request.
The Tonic Cinema opened in 1936 with Ronald Colman in “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo”. It was operated by John H. O'Niell.
It had a 49 feet wide proscenium, a stage 25 feet deep and five dressing rooms. The Tonic Cinema was equipped with a Compton 3Manual/8Rank theatre organ, with Melotone attachment, which was installed on 6th July 1936. It also had a restaurant and a ballroom attached.
By 1944 it was under the management of Bangor Cinemas Ltd. and booked by Curran Theatres. They operated it until the early-1960’s when in 1963 it was listed as being operated by Odeon (Northern Ireland) Ltd. The Compton organ was sold for 150 GB Pounds and removed in 1969 to a Bangor boys school. The Rank Organisation pulled out of Northern Ireland in 1974 and an independent company Belfast Cinemas Ltd. took control. It was still being operated by them as a single screen cinema in 1980, but was closed in 1983.
The empty building was designated a Grade II Listed building. In February 1992, an application was made to de-list the (by then) derelict cinema, to enable demolition for a sheltered housing project to be built. The derelict building was severely damaged by a fire on 21st June 1992 and it was demolished a few weeks later.