28/09/2026
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The Albert Kinema Fire - Thursday 8th May 1947
On the morning of Thursday the 8th of May 1947, Kirkwall awoke to the devastating news that fire had swept through the Albert Kinema on Albert Street, destroying one of the town’s most popular places of entertainment.
Opened by D. B. Peace in June 1931, the 300-seat picture house had brought the excitement of talking pictures to Kirkwall and, for almost 16 years, had been a much-loved gathering place for generations of Orcadians.
Throughout the Second World War, the Kinema provided entertainment for local residents and the many servicemen and women stationed across Orkney.
But on that May morning, everything changed.
The first reported sighting of the fire came from John Cooper, a storeman at Boots the Chemists. Having stopped to look at the film stills displayed outside the cinema, he noticed an unusual glow through the window. Realising something was wrong, the alarm was raised, and Kirkwall's fire brigade responded.
As the fire took hold, crowds gathered in Albert Street to watch the unfolding disaster. The blaze was ferocious, with historical accounts describing how the crackling of the cinema's asbestos roof lining could be heard as far away as Kirkwall Golf Course.
Dougie Shearer, whose family owned the cinema, watched the inferno from the upstairs of his home next door.
Firefighters faced the additional danger of the flames spreading to neighbouring properties, including the nearby premises of gunsmiths A. M. Morgan. With the fire raging close by, the firm's stock of am******on had to be moved to safety amid fears that it could explode.
The priority was no longer simply saving the cinema, but preventing the fire from spreading further through the surrounding buildings.
Despite their efforts, the Albert Kinema could not be saved. Within an hour, the once-popular picture house had been reduced to a burnt-out shell.
Although the fire brought an abrupt end to the Albert Kinema, it did not bring an end to cinema-going in Kirkwall. The Shearer family quickly secured the former Temperance Hall in Mill Street, which had served as a Royal Navy cinema during the war. Film screenings resumed there under the Albert Kinema name while plans for a permanent replacement progressed.
The original Albert Street site could not be used for the new building, so a location was eventually found at The Crafty on Junction Road.
On the 14th of June 1955, eight years after the devastating fire, Kirkwall's new purpose built cinema opened its doors. Its name could hardly have been more fitting: The Phoenix Cinema, rising from the ashes of the Albert Kinema.
The burnt-out remains of the original Albert Kinema stood on Albert Street for more than two decades before the site was purchased by Templetons Supermarket and cleared in the early 1970s.
The site later became home to Boots, a familiar location to many Kirkwall residents today.
The Albert Kinema fire remains a fascinating chapter in Kirkwall's history and offers a glimpse into the challenges faced by our predecessors in the fire brigade. Long before modern appliances, equipment and communications, local firefighters responded to incidents like this, working to protect the people and buildings of their community.
Although the original cinema is long gone, its legacy lives on through the Phoenix name, which continues at the Pickaquoy Centre today.
Almost 80 years later, the story of the Albert Kinema is a reminder of how much Kirkwall has changed, and of the generations of firefighters who have served our town.
Do you remember the Albert Kinema, the temporary cinema in Mill Street, or the old Phoenix on Junction Road?
Perhaps you have family memories of the fire itself?
We would love to hear your stories or see any photographs you may have of these much-loved Kirkwall landmarks.
