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"Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:29 pm
by andysmz
Hi

I found this site while googling for 520 Sauchiehall Street (now Classrooms nightclub but was the Tatler Cinema Club until 1984) which was a recent topic on here.

I am attempting to catalogue all the "dirty" cinemas which have existed in the UK ( over 100 so far) and have identified the following for Glasgow:

1. The aforementioned Tatler

2. The Classic Grand in Jamaica Street (recently refurbished as a music venue, but a "dirty" cinema until 1992.

3. The Classic at 15 Renfield Street (just one of the screens I think) until it closed due to a fire in 1981.

4. Divallys (which became Legs 'n' Co ) at 86 Maxwell Street. This opened in 1994 and still had cinematic entertainment for some time after becoming a lap dancing club but this finally stopped sometime around 2002.

The first 3 were all part of the Classic Cinema chain and Glasgow must have been their highest density of adult cinemas outside London.

Does anyone know of any other cinemas I've missed ?

Thanks

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:59 am
by onyirtodd
There were a couple of very unofficial places. One is still on the go and needs to remain nameless but one, long gone, was just about underneath the railway bridge next to Weirs Pumps on the sou' side.

It wasn't much more than a large room with a big telly showing mostly poor quality US and Scandinavian VHS. It died out when the trend for DIY porno caught hold with the advent of affordable domestic video cameras.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:25 pm
by andysmz
Thanks

Overall, Scotland doesn't seem to have had very many. All I have in addition to the Glasgow ones already mentioned is :

Dundee - Tivoli Continental - Closed 1977
Dundee - Victoria - closed 1989 - not an adult cinema as such but apparently their Sunday programme was at sometime in the 80s

Edinburgh - Classic (La Scala before 1974), Nicolson St closed around 1985ish and was Edinburgh's Classic Grand equivalent
Edinburgh - Jacey Film Theatre, Princes St closed 1973
Edinburgh - Astoria, Corstorphine closed 1974
plus another unofficial one in Leith Walk which closed sometime in the early 1990s

and that's it unless anyone else knows otherwise ?

I'm particularly interested to know of cinemas like the Dundee Victoria which may have had special programmes but were otherwise "normal" cinemas.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:21 pm
by Lucky Poet
andysmz wrote:Dundee - Victoria - closed 1989 - not an adult cinema as such but apparently their Sunday programme was at sometime in the 80s.

The Vicky? And here was me went there as a sprog, none the wiser. The things you learn :)

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:43 pm
by trudger
Many years ago, I lived across the road from the Tatler (which I'm sure was a 'classic' at the time). It was amusing to watch the furtive behaviour of the clients as they pretended they werent actually going in..you know, shoelace tying, watch studying, vomitting...that sort of thing. Occaisionally there would be the 'I'M HERE TO WATCH PORN AND I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS IT' guy, who would flamboyantly march up to the entrance, produce a box of hankies and rip the doors off their hinges. Interestingly, there was never a queue.....God knows what the films were like, lots of moustaches, wigs, overalls and giant pants probably.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:04 pm
by andysmz
Tatler Cinema Club was the Classic Cinema branding for their "porn" cinemas although the Tatler name had originally been used with newsreel cinemas. In some cases a Tatler would be a single screen (usually the smallest) in a multi-screen Classic Cinema or alternatively, as in this case, a standalone single screen cinema. According to cinematreasures.org the Tatler name was applied in July 1973 when it first started showing "adult" films but it reverted to Curzon (one of its many previous identities ) from March 81 and finally closed in Feb 84.

According to scottishcinemas.org.uk, it was a Tatler when it closed but I think they are wrong. I'm sure I recall it being a Classic in the early 80s so maybe it was a Classic Curzon to distinguish it from their Classic Grand down the road.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:01 pm
by andysmz
Does anyone recall the "adult" cinema past of the Classic in Renfield Street. As far as I know it had a Tatler Cinema Club as one of the screens from around 1969 until the building caught fire in 1981.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:07 pm
by Dave
andysmz wrote:Does anyone recall the "adult" cinema past of the Classic in Renfield Street. As far as I know it had a Tatler Cinema Club as one of the screens from around 1969 until the building caught fire in 1981.


Such is the power of friction ;)

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:39 pm
by capscar
Onyirtodd if the underground cinema is still on the go.
I would be keen to know more about it.
Have vistied a few in London but now working in Glasgow
and would like to see if they are better up north.

Please email me [email protected] about the cinema

Chris

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:22 pm
by markg65
Hi, my girlfriend and I were talking about this recently and wondered if any cinema was still going. We knew of Divallays and the Classic Grande too. The one that must remain secret, is it a private club? and is there anyway for us to find out how to join or go. If anyone can help please e-mail us at [email protected].
Thanks,
Mark

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:26 pm
by JayKay
The classic grand was part of a chain in the early 90s, (ABC?) that included a number of scottish cinemas, all the others were regular non adult cinemas.

According to a friend who was manager of another branch in ayrshire, the classic grand usually raked in more cash that the regular cinema branch in the south side of glasgow .

I

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:36 pm
by onyirtodd
JayKay wrote:The classic grand was part of a chain in the early 90s, (ABC?) that included a number of scottish cinemas, all the others were regular non adult cinemas.

According to a friend who was manager of another branch in ayrshire, the classic grand usually raked in more cash that the regular cinema branch in the south side of glasgow .

I


That wouldn't surprise me. Divally's used to attract bus parties from Edinburgh and Dundee.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:09 pm
by floweredpig
The Grand was part of the Cannon chain up until it closed.i worked in the Cannon on Sauchiehall St at the time ,1990-91 and all calls for the Grand were routed through to Sauchiehall St at the time as the Grand ran with about three old ladies and a janitor who were all to busy selling tissues and clearing up the mess to answer the phone.Cannon used to provide you with a brief synopsis of every film should anyone call and enquire which was great when it was Thelma and Louise but think about the conversation when describing Big&Firm 2.Oh the hilarity.

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:35 am
by rotten milk
i had in my mind an 'abc' on the (union/jamaica) side of central station - i take it this is the classic grande referred to?

used to get their own listing in the times' entertainment section, usually followed by an 'X' (or was it '18' by then?) :D

it was the only widely known 'dirty' cinema when i was there!

i remember the 'abc' chain was all over scotland, until taken over by cannon/odeon?

Re: "Adult" cinemas in Glasgow

PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:29 pm
by gap74
The "X" was replaced by the "18" in 1982.

ABC cinemas went through an enormous number of owners - EMI, Cannon, MGM, Virgin. Virgin sold off the older and less lucrative ones to a venture capitalist group who revived the ABC name, but when they also bought Odeon, most of the cinemas were either closed or changed eventually to Odeon.

Now that such companies run most of the cinema chains, they've closed most of the traditional high street cinemas in favour of modern multiplexes.