27/10/03
After its official launch last night, I've very happily moved the Grosvenor
back into the list
of 'open' cinemas. In honour of its new look, the Grosvenor
page has been
entirely revamped and includes a gallery of photos from the
Bafta-sponsored launch party - as well as photos of the new look
interior!
21/10/03
Just added a wee photo of the new signage being tested earlier this
afternoon at the Grosvenor,
due to re-open to the public a week today. The revised layout appears
to be almost exactly the opposite of what was outlined in the submitted
plans described here;
the two cinemas are back on the ground floor where they were
originally, whereas the upper level is entirely given over to the
bar/restaurant.
Lots of news coverage of this cinema today, with stories (and photos)
in The Herald,
The
Scotsman, and the Evening Times.
18/10/03
Another long gap between updates, due to pressure of work. Many
apologies!
Quite a lot of news in the meantime...
- The Odeon
Clerk St in
Edinburgh sadly closed at the end of August; its replacement, the Odeon Lothian Road
opened on 5th
September.
- An application has been submitted to Glasgow City Council to demolish
the B-listed ex-Kingsway
cinema,
and build housing on the site. The developers are claiming the damage
to the building after lying derelict for so long is too great to allow
even facade retention to take place.
- Meanwhile, planning permission has been granted to convert the
B-listed ex-Olympia
theatre/cinema
in Bridgeton into flats. Part of the facade is to be retained, with new
windows inserted into it.
- The Grosvenor
cinema in
Hillhead is to reopen on the 27th of November, having undergone
conversion to a series of bars and restaurants, which also incorporate
two small luxury cinemas. The end result of all this appears to be
quite different to the plans described here that
were submitted
to the local planning department. A full update on the new Grosvenor
should be added next week.
- The Coliseum,
Eglinton Street
is now up for sale, after Count closed down its bingo operations there
earlier this year.
- Another part of the ex-ABC
Regal,
Sauchiehall Street has been let out to a large sports bar. This will
fill approximately half of the old auditorium space, and utilise the
extended portion of the facade as an entrance. The only remaining unlet
unit in the development is the central portion incorporating the
original entranceway.
Now - some new stuff at last!
Thanks to a trip to the USA, have added some pictures of cinemas from Chicago,
Illinois, Madison,
Wisconsin, and Ramona,
California.
Also, an interestingly named cinema in Cape Town, South
Africa, thanks to
Robin Owen and Sophie Dale.
Graham Kelly sent some pictures of the Playhouse,
Dalkeith and the Pleasure
Island cinemas in Lytham St.
Annes.
Courtesy of Norrie Mcnamee and Graham Crawford, the Alhambra Keswick.
Gary Painter has also been busy, allowing me to add cinemas in (deep
breath): Fort
William, Kilmarnock,
Stevenson,
Largs, Stonehouse, Girvan, Galston, Kilbirnie, Lanark, and Saltcoats, as
well as Brecon in
Wales.
7/7/03
Apologies for the lack of updates recently - I've been busy moving into
a new flat (also apologies to anyone whose email I have not yet
responded to!). Normal service should now be resumed.
A nice big update today, mainly thanks to the many people who have
been
sending in contributions.
First of all, a little back-slapping. I have obtained the viewing
statistics for these web-pages. They are in the top-thirty most popular
pages served from this particular server, and get between 900 and 1500
visits a month, which is quite amazing. Thanks to everyone that is
stopping by to have a look!
A new website has just been set up with a selection of historical and interior photos of the Odeon Edinburgh (ex-New Victoria) - click here to visit it (external link).
Updated the To-Do list introduced in May - many thanks to the numerous people who sent comments, clarifications and corrections - please keep them coming. Thanks in particular to: Gordon Blackburn, Kenny Duncan, Ray Dunns, Mervyn Gould, Ian Grant, Graham Kelly, Norman Mcnamee, Jim Mitchell and David Simpson.
New things this month:
A great selection of pictures of the interior of the Glasgow Film Theatre
(ex-Cosmo) thanks
to Emma Taylor.
Some photos of the interior of the Anniesland
Ascot just prior and during demolition, thanks to Frank Watson.
Norman Mcnamee kindly sent a photo of the ex-Cinema, Loughgelly.
Information and photos of the new dual-nightclub conversion of the
ex-Capitol,
Aberdeen
thanks to Tom Widdows.
Last and definately not least, Graham Kelly has sent pictures from
Bathgate, Berwick, Boness,
Burnham-on-Sea, Burntisland, Cowdenbeath,
Dunfermline,
Livingston, Bristol, Cardendan and Newport-on-Tay.
Phew!
5/5/03
Bad news first - Graham Kelly reports that the Westway, Cardonald
has been
demolished. It has therefore been moved to the 'totally gone' section
of the Glasgow
page.
Also, Pauline O'Neill reports that demolition work is well advanced at
the former La
Scala,
Greenock.
A few corrections and clarifications: Tim Addyman kindly corrected some
of my assertions and information about what used to be cinemas on the York page, and so the
pictures
purporting to be the Regal (actual cinema demolished - picture was of
wrong building!) and Scala (actually also demolished) have been removed
; and Donald Kirkbryde has informed me that what I was calling the
Kinema cinema in Fife
was in
fact the Alhambra.
In other news, the Odeon Lothian Road is now expected to open around
September, and a new 10-screen Odeon is now planned for Aberdeen.
A page has been added for Seattle
thanks to some pictures sent by Colin Alexander.
Finally got around - after some prodding! - to updating the Links page of the site -
checked the links,
added many more, and removed outdated and broken links. Suggestions for
additions or corrections are welcomed!
The last item is a new feature for the site - a To Do List as it were.
It lists all the
cinemas I have any info about that I do not yet have either pictures on
the website, or confirmation that they have been demolished. I would
welcome information as to omissions, or incorrect inclusions, or even
pictures of anything on the list - any feedback on it all would be
welcomed.
21/4/03
Thanks to a trip there, added a page surveying the surviving cinemas
and theatres of York.
Added a page with some photos of the Odeon
Rochdale, kindly provided by the manager there, Colin Alexander.
Added a nice picture of the current Grosvenor
interior, as seen from across Ashton Lane, as well as some nice
interior shots of the Theatre Royal,
thanks to Gary Painter.
3/4/03
Good news first: the Odeons in Glasgow
and Edinburgh
have both been
given a temporary reprieve of at least 6 months each. More details to
follow soon...
Bad news: planning permission has been granted to demolish the Toledo, (ex-ABC
Muirend) to build
flats, retaining only the facade. More soon.
Added a page describing the plans for what the Grosvenor,
Hillhead will be like,
once it emerges from its current dramatic rebuild...
25/3/03
Thanks to an anonymous contributor, more pictures of the Grosvenor have
been added, this
time showing a fascinating glimpse of some surviving internal features.
24/3/03
More pictures of the Grosvenor
have been added, showing the ongoing demolition work, and revealing a
few more features of interest.
Several new cinemas, including the wonderful Dominion,
added to the Edinburgh
page. Much additional
dates and information added to existing Edinburgh pages as well.
New pages also added for Leith
and Portobello.
Finally, a picture of the ex-King's Cinema, Montrose
added thanks
to JTK Barr.
16/3/03
The closing dates for the Glasgow Odeon
Renfield St, and Edinburgh Odeon
Clerk St, have both been confirmed for April 24th 2003. Watch this
space around that time for some major Odeon-related updates we have
planned to mark their passing - exclusive to this site!
Added pages for Kilmarnock,
Cumnock, Falkirk,
and Wishaw
thanks to Graham Kelly.
Major update to the Stirling
pages, as well as new pages for Cumbernauld,
Denny, and Evesham thanks to
Alan Bunting and
Hugh Thomson. These feature both current and archive photographs.
Demolition work continues apace at the Grosvenor in
Hillhead; the only
positive side is that it is revealing so much of the original interior
decoration as it does so - some more pics have been added showing the
front of the circle, and the original roof decoration still in situ
(for the moment!).
Added a pic of the remains of the foyer of the ABC Regal,
Sauchiehall Street, showing
a little of the remaining original decoration uncovered by the
demolition work.
Thanks to Roddy Buxton, a page of shots of the projection facilities of
the Savoy, Nottingham
has been
added.
Finally, a few shots of the interior of the King's Theatre,
Glasgow.
24/2/03
Have added a whole new page of photos from inside the Britannia Panopticon
Music Hall, and
fixed some errors in the building history, thanks to Judith Bowers and
the Britannia Music Hall Trust.
Added a photo taken during redevelopment works at the Grosvenor,
showing the remains of
the original circle above the twin cinemas formed from the stalls.
Added a few details about the Motherwell
Odeon, again thanks to Janice Clark.
Added a page for Chester,
with some
photos by Gary Painter.
Thanks to Ian Grant and James Joss, have positively identified the
unknown Kirkintilloch
cinema as the Black Bull.
10/2/03
Major site redesign and re-organisation. A new main page makes the
increased emphasis on cinemas further afield from Glasgow more obvious.
All internal links checked for consistency, and major behind-the-scenes
tidying done.
The Edinburgh, Aberdeen
and Ayr pages
are also completely
redone, to stop them taking half an hour to load!
Future plans include expanding and adding detail (especially to the
Edinburgh page), as well as improving page-loading times - especially
on the more image-heavy pages.
Added notes to various pages making clear the latest developments -
especially for the Grosvenor, Odeon Renfield St, Odeon Clerk St,
Coliseum etc.
Added interior picture of the now-demolished Odeon Motherwell
- thanks to
Janice Clark.
Added a couple of night-time pics to the Canterbury
page.
An update coming soon should include some interior pics from the Savoy,
Nottingham, as well as more Stirling pictures courtesy of Alan Bunting.
Stay tuned!
