Galway's old cinemas and the differences between then and now and which do you prefer

smurf492

Hi Guys.. Just came across a thread about the savoy in Dublin and the history that place has had. My experiences is the claddagh palace and Batman with the queue around nearly to what is now super valu.. Nearly a year later the turtles did the same thing.. So would love to hear any of your experiences and memories..

jArgHA

I used to go to the Town Hall cinema a good bit as a kid. One thing that sticks in my memory is the cranky so and so who worked behind the counter where they sold sweets and coke, maybe my memory is distorted but all I can recall is the scowl you would get as she begrudgingly handed over a pack of taytos and a drink.. Do I recall correctly that they used to have a balcony in the Town Hall cinema also, or was that the Claddagh Palace?

smurf492

Claddagh palace definitely had a balcony. Not sure about the town hall though

ButtersSuki

Town Hall 1 (the biggest screen and theatre) had a balcony that ran in a U shape from the back and down the sides. There were a few rows of seats at the back but the rows along the sides contained just two seats each.

Claddagh Palace 1 had a semi-circular shaped balcony of many rows.

Have lots of memories of both cinemas, saw a lot of classics (and crap) in both....mostly underage!

smurf492

When I see what the lighthouse in Dublin is showing in recent and classic movies i feel that the claddagh palace would have been the perfect place for that kind of cinema. Luckily element pictures have taken the picture palace so we hopefully will see the same quality of pictures here

Wedwood

Does anyone remember the name/photos of the old cinema that used to be near Salthill?

We spent our summer holliers there as kids and remember us going to there to see The Bounty and A View to a Kill.

ButtersSuki

Wedwood wrote: »

Does anyone remember the name/photos of the old cinema that used to be near Salthill?

The Claddagh Palace.

S.M.B.

I'm assuming it's the claddagh palace that everyone is talking about.

Could someone post a link of where exactly the site is on Google maps?

I have vague memories of being there ~25 years ago and I did a stint of living in galway but that was over 10 years ago so I wouldn't know any recent landmarks nearby.

smurf492

Hi ya i set up this thread just to see peoples memories. It was lower salthill so not far away from the arcades back then. Hope you have a few stories

charlie_says

Remember it was badly damaged by a fire in the 90's. I member.

I phoned the fire brigade as I was in a nearby house playing with my friends over from England. Noticed smoke coming out of a side window as it was all boarded up. Took fire brigade about 3 minutes to respond as it's about 200 from the station.

smurf492

My last memories of the films shown were the crow and reservoir dogs