Cabra History.Com

It’s quite sad all the same to walk into what was once a really grand Picture House and to see it as it is today. It’s not even a shadow of it’s old self. This was always considered one of the ‘Better Class’ of Picture Houses in Dublin. They kept a tidy house and there was no messing or fighting that I can recall. Even when you’d be walking past the doors you’d always get a whiff of freshly made Popcorn. When I was a little fella I went to see Darby O’Gill and the Little People in this Picture House with my brother and two younger sisters. We had to queue down along the steps at the side of the building and it was raining. I think of all the old Picture Houses around when we were kids the only one still in operation is the Savoy, next door to the Gresham Hotel in O’Connell Street. There used to be hundreds of Picture Houses in Dublin at one time…’For the times they are a changing…’

The front of the old State Cinema in Phibsborough.

Looking up at the balcony inside the old State Cinema in Phibsborough.

Looking down from the balcony in the old State Cinema in Phibsborough.