Cinema Week - Drumcondra Grand

Tesco seem to have cornered the market in taking over old cinema premises. Earlier this week we saw the Fairview Grand, and today we have a very similar cinema in the Drumcondra Grand. Situated on Upper Drumcondra Road, 'the Drummer' as it was known locally was part of Leonard Ging's chain of cinemas. It too was opened by Alfie Byrne, this time in October 1934.

There were a massive 1200 seats in the venue. In the days before television sets in every home, cinema was a major source of entertainment and Dublin supported an incredible 56 cinemas as of 1956. By 2005 this had fallen to 12 cinemas, many of which are multiplex venues. In the heyday of Dublin cinemas they were generally single screen theatres.

The Drummer closed in March 1968, another casualty of the advent of home-based audiovisual entertainment.

Tomorrow: Ambassador Cinema

References:
Left: G.A. Duncan
Jim Keenan, Dublin Cinemas: A Pictorial Selections