Armagh looks set to lose its only cinema with Omniplex set to pull out of the city in the new year.
Armagh I understands that the company – which has recently expanded into the UK – will not be renewing its lease at the Market Street complex, which is due to expire in February 2026.
The development marks what could be the end of an era for cinema in Armagh, 30 years after the site first opened as The City Film House in 1995.
Originally a joint venture between Diamond Cinemas Ltd and Armagh District Council, the City Film House opened on 10 November 1995, featuring four screens spread across two floors, along with a ground-floor coffee shop and confectionery counter.
The building’s Georgian-style façade was designed to complement its historic surroundings, making it one of the city’s most distinctive modern additions at the time.
After struggling with attendance, the cinema closed on June 29, 2007.
The following year, the Ward-Anderson group (which later became Omniplex) took over the site and carried out a £1 million refurbishment, reopening the venue in 2009 with state-of-the-art facilities.
Omniplex has since operated the four-screen complex for more than 15 years, showing blockbusters and local films.
However, with the lease now nearing its end, sources have told Armagh I that the company does not intend to renew it, meaning the future of cinema in Armagh city is uncertain beyond early 2026.
It would be the end of another chapter in the long and colourful history of film in Armagh.
The city’s first major cinema, The Ritz Picture House, opened on December 6, 1937 just yards away on the site of where the Market Place Theatre sits today.
The Ritz was once considered among the finest in Northern Ireland. Built for the Union Cinemas chain before being taken over by Associated British Cinemas (ABC), the Ritz was known for its plush seating, velvet curtains and ornate design.
After ABC’s closure of the Ritz in 1974, the venue briefly operated under the Rice Brothers, an independent team who kept the reels turning until 1977.
The building was later demolished, and the Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre now occupies the site.
For now, no official confirmation has been made by Omniplex, but if the closure goes ahead, it would bring the curtain down on nearly 90 years of cinema-going tradition in Armagh — from the golden age of the Ritz to the multiplex era of the City Film House.
Armagh I contacted Omniplex for comment on multiple occasions but at the time of publication no response had been received.
