Two of Dublin's most popular entertainment venues The Theatre Royal and The Regal cinema are to close.
The 3,410 seat Theatre Royal and 900 seat Regal cinema on Hawkins Street in Dublin will close. The buildings will be demolished and the site used to construct multi-storey office blocks.
The closure of the two venues will mean the loss of around 200 jobs. Announcing the decision to close, Irish Cinemas Limited, who control 13 other theatres, said that it was no longer economic to keep the two theatres open due to spiralling costs. They also announced plans to renovate the Savoy cinema.
The present Theatre Royal building was opened in 1935 replacing the old Theatre Royal which stood on the site since 1887. The original Theatre Royal opened in 1821 and was destroyed by fire in 1870. Since 1935, it had operated as a cinema-variety house and hosted many big names in the entertainment industry including Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Judy Garland, Roy Rogers, Frankie Lane, Nat King Cole, Liberace and many others.
The Regal, also known as the Regal Rooms Cinema had been operating since 1938.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 February 1962. The footage shown here is mute.
