Demolished Glasgow Cinemas

[gap74]

More pics of it here too:

http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasgow/rio.html

[Doorstop]

I appreciate that guys .. I'm sorry for not executing a search .. very much appreciated, both for the photos (now transferred to my PDA) and for the tolerance.

Thanks again .. Nice one.

[Dexter St. Clair]

I appreciate that guys .. I'm sorry for not executing a search .. very much appreciated, both for the photos (now transferred to my PDA) and for the tolerance.

Thanks again .. Nice one.

Aye keep it in mind the next time an anorak clad guy turns up at your club.

[Doorstop]

[floweredpig]

i worked at the old cannon/mgm/abc on sauchiehall st in the early nineties.such an amazing building inside full of secret corridors and passageways in the old part of the cinema,at the back of the old cinema 1 there was a door that let to a stairwell that led you under all the seating and took you out behind the screen, i assume it was there to repair any faults on the screen but it was weird.Underneath the building was an underground carpark which stretched out under sauchiehall st,would probably hold at least forty cars,the entrance was next to RS Mcolls and i think its still there,but the strangest thing in the car park down a corridor going off it containing a row of cages which i was told were cages for the animals when the building housed henglers circus in the 1920's.the poster room was an treasure trove of cinematic history with about 60 years of posters either stored in tubes or on the original boards,the sad thing is all of them were destroyed in a fire in about 1992 i think.

[mrsam]

.the poster room was an treasure trove of cinematic history with about 60 years of posters either stored in tubes or on the original boards,the sad thing is all of them were destroyed in a fire in about 1992 i think.

If its posters you want then run along to hamilton to the LaScala (in the process of being flattened) and gawp at the collection in the attic

Is anything being done to save them, and should a rescue committee be formed?

For those not Nodrog, visit http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/scotl ... es/62.html to see what I'm talking about.

Anyone for a night time amble(Pm me as I,m keen)http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/scotland/picture.php?loc=hamilton/lascala/index.html&filen=hamilton/lascala/dem1_feb08.jpg

Sam

[Lucky Poet]

For those not Nodrog, visit http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/scotl ... es/62.html to see what I'm talking about.

That was brilliant stuff, thanks for the link

[gap74]

I was the daft bugger who climbed up there to take those pics of the posters, and it was hairy then - wouldn't like to think what it was like now that half of the building has gone! It involved hauling my not inconsiderable arse through a pigeon-shit covered hatch and crawling along some narrow steelwork with huge holes looking onto the balcony below.

We spoke to a chap at South Lanarkshire Council's museums department at the time - it was he who told us they were there - and he said he'd looked into rescuing them, but no scaffolding company was willing to take the risk of erecting a platform on a potentially unsafe balcony.

Alas, I fear it may be too late anyway - if you compare the poster pic:



With the shot of the half demolished building now:



You'll see that the wooden walls and doorway the posters were attached too have been partially smashed and exposed at the top of the building in the roof space.

The demolition has stopped there as the listed building consent only allows demolition of the auditorium block - this was part of a previous plan to build stuff behind the retained facade. But now that they've started, the council (who own the building) and their developing partners (Lynnham properties, part of the Lynnet Leisure group, same guy who wants to roof Buchanan St!) are chancing their arm and have applied for listed building consent to demolish the lot - on the grounds that the facade is rendered meaningless now that they've demolished the auditorium...

[robertpool]

The clock is ticking.............



from 1917 programme

[Lone Groover]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread.

Please forgive this diversion from Strictly Glasgow......

But all this reminiscing about early cinema visits set me to look for my childhood cinema. Which had the honour to be the first Cinema in UK to band 'Life Of Brian' !

But I post it's picture, because it has been preserved and now looks more wonderfull than ever. It is such a shame there aren't more like in this city now.

So I give you : The Radway Cinema, Sidmouth, Devon.

[Lucky Poet]

I was the daft bugger who climbed up there to take those pics of the posters, and it was hairy then

Well done for doing that, it looks thoroughly dodgy. I'm not sure I wouldn't have chickened out. It's a shame the posters couldn't be saved, but at least they're recorded;* if cameras are good for one thing it's that. Cheers!

... on the grounds that the facade is rendered meaningless now that they've demolished the auditorium...

Oh ffs, I do wish they'd pack in that sort of thing.

*I was about to write 'for posterity' by accident, which would rightly have led to me being given a lifetime HG ban.

[ibtg]

Does anyone have a picture of the Wellington Palace Cinema, long gone now from Commercial Road? It was part of the B&B's - Bright and Beautiful's.

A friend of mine was reminiscing about all the cinemas in that area and remarked that he could find photographs of most of the cinemas from that era, but not the Wellington Palace.

There is lots of information about it on the internet and in wonderful books like '100 years of Glasgow's Amazing Cinemas', by Bruce Peter, but no photographs. I have found a sketch of what it looked like on one website.

Also, does anyone know what has happened to Stuart Nevilles' site of Glasgow Cinemas? I tried to connect to http://www.glasgowcinemas.co.uk and the site was gone!

The Scottish Cinemas site is brilliant, I enjoyed it - but still no Wellington Palace photo.

[gap74]

Indeed, all we have is a sketch of the elevation and a wee postcard:

http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasg ... ngton.html

There are a couple of shots of Commercial Rd on the Virtual Mitchell website dating from 1955, which show the sides of some buildings that might be the cinema, but could just as easily be factories!

I don't know what happened to Stuart's cinema website, or indeed his Glasgow Pictures website either - which is a shame, as he had a lot of original material on both of them - I think I have his email address somewhere, might try to contact him to see if he can fill us in.

[Dexter St. Clair]

The hey day of Glasgow cinemas as described in Hansard after they put a tax of a penny on a threepenny seat.

The brewers (owners of the Conservative and Unionist party at that time) escaped lightly.

NEW CLAUSE.—(Reduction of Entertainments Duty.)
HC Deb 01 June 1933 vol 278 cc2132-61 2132

§ As from the first day of August, nineteen hundred and thirty-three, Entertainments Duty within the meaning of the Finance (New Duties) Act, 1916, shall in Great Britain be charged at the rate set out in the Schedule (Rate of Entertainments Duty) to this Act, and not at the rate set out in the Second Schedule to the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1931.—[Sir J. Wardlaw-Milne.]

§ Brought up, and read the First time.

Kirkwood

I have before me the names of some of the cinemas in my own district. Other hon. Members may have similar information. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hillhead (Sir B. Home) has been approached. He has gone into the working-class sections of Hillhead, and has seen the terrible situation that is arising. Let me give three outstanding examples of these cinemas. First, the Lorne Cinema decreased its takings by £l,874, while there was an increase in Entertainments Duty of £926. In the Elder Cinema, there has been a decrease in takings of £1,183 and an increase in Entertainments Duty of £1,660. At the Lyceum—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh !"]— This is the last. I must give this information to the Committee. I can go on for an hour. You must remember that in working-class districts this is one of the vital items, and that we have discussed it under an hour. It is the case of the poor that is being stated, and because it is the case of the poor you find rich individuals like the hon. Member for South Kensington (Sir W. Davison) interrupting. The Lyceum decreased its takings by £2,724, and the increase of the duty was £336.

and more

the poorer cinema operators have not been able to spend the necessary money to keep these cinemas in a proper condition. Many of them require cleaning and overhauling, but the proprietors cannot afford to spend the money. I emphasise this point because, particularly in the winter nights, these poor people are not only entertained in the cinemas, but they can go there and spend three hours in comfort, in heat, when they have no means of heating at home—no coal and no fire. They can go to the cinema and have a fine, comfortable seat for three or four hours for those few coppers, and another penny will make all the difference as to whether or not they get that little bit of entertainment in life.

An hon. Member opposite—I forget where he comes from—made the coldest statement that I have ever heard made in the House. He said that they did not need to go. Of course they do not need to go. He does not need to take his food, but he requires it. He will not want to die, but, die he will. It is good that there is such a thing as a grave.

David Kirkwood

Born in Parkhead, Kirkwood worked at the Parkhead Forge and at John Brown & Co's shipyard in Clydebank. His involvement with the anti-war Clyde Workers' Committee and the George Square riots in January 1919 earned him a reputation as one of the leading radicals on Clydeside.

In 1922 Kirkwood won Dumbarton Burghs for the Independent Labour Party, remaining as an MP for 29 years. He supported the Clydebank Rent Strike in the early 1920s, although that support had become tepid by 1925. His campaign in Parliament to draw attention to the effect of the economic depression in Clydebank in the 1930s influenced the decision to resume work on ship No 534, later the Queen Mary, which was so vital to the Burgh's prosperity. In 1951 he was made one of the first four honorary burgesses in Clydebank.

Find out the vote here

[dimairt]

I got this on E-bay the other day and have posted it on the Trams page but I'm so pleased to have it, it goes here too. It's the Seamore on Maryhill Rd at Hopehill Rd. and it's one of the best snaps I've seen of the old place. The added extra additional bonus - sorry , family joke - is the tram and Ye Olde Tramcar Vaults in the background with the Abington Bar in the distance.

Le durachd,
Eddy