Unlike many of the large ballrooms of the day that were built between or close by large towns, the Palm Court was
built far out in west Mayo nearly 40 miles from Ballina, the largest nearby town, on the outskirts of Belmullet, a small town. The brainchild of the Mangan brothers (M.B.D.) from Doohoma who had spent sixteen years in England working in the construction industry with his brothers, he returned home in December 1969 with the intention of return to London but instead bought the land from the Gibbons family which was to originally include a 40 bedroom hotel as well (which was put on hold because of the impact of the tourist industry because of the "troubles" in the North and was consequently never built).

Construction started in late 1970 and the ballroom was completed early the following year with a total square footage of 9,000 square ft. which included 2,900 square ft seating areas and a 3,250 sq ft maple dance floor. It was not the biggest ballroom in the West (a little over half the size of nearby Pontoon's 7500 sq ft dance floor), but given its location, it drew great crowds from across north-western Mayo. The ballroom opened its doors on Easter Sunday, April 11th, 1971, to the sounds of the late Jim Tobin and the Firehouse and had a license to hold 1,400 dancers. Over the years, the Palm Court did great business as one of the West's premier ballrooms. Unlike so many of the ballrooms that were around when it opened (including Pontoon), it managed to keep going; growing and changing to suit new audiences as the years marched on. The last dances were held over Christmas of 1993 and the ballroom finally closed in early 1994.

Then in mid-1995, the ballroom was put up for sale (see below) and was sold in December 1995 to Havenway Enterprises and one of the directors was Brendan Padden. The new owners invested several hundred thousand and reopened the venue after getting a license to sell alcohol and renamed it The Web nite club. Limited by building codes to crowds of 910 people or less, the club did a nice business for several years until the summer of 2005 when it closed yet again.

A few years later the ballroom was purchased by Frank Brogan and underwent a major renovation when the new owners invested €3.7 million to turn it into the Gateway Leisureplex Centre which opened in 2009 complete with bowling lanes and many other indoor entertainments. The photo below was taken from Google Earth in 2017 and the centre is still going strong. Sadly Frank (formerly the drummer with the San Antones showband) passed away in December 2009, not long after the Leisureplex opened. 

In November, 2017, we received an email from original owner, Eamon Mangan, who wrote to let us know he is still going strong, although taking it easy and enjoying time with his grandchildren these days in Belmullet. 

Our thanks to a podcast from ennisfm which helped add to our original story.