place

Britannia Music Hall

1857 establishments in ScotlandCategory A listed buildings in GlasgowMusic hall venues in the United KingdomMusic venues completed in 1857Music venues in Glasgow
Use British English from December 2016
The Britannia Music Hall
The Britannia Music Hall

The Britannia Music Hall (later known as The Panopticon or The Britannia Panopticon) in Trongate, Glasgow, Scotland is one of the oldest remaining music halls in Britain. It is located above an amusement arcade, at 113-117 Trongate. Built in 1857/58 by and for city builder Archibald Blair whose architects were Thomas Gildard and Robert H. M. MacFarlane, the Trongate building was a speculative building, soon with lessees for each of its four shops on the street level. The floors above were advertised as being suitable for a drapery warehouse, but they opened as an entertainment centre, firstly as the Britannia Music Hall. Britannia Panopticon was an early building to become powered by electricity and one of the first cinema venues in Scotland. The Britannia Music Hall, leased to John Brand, opened on Christmas Day 1859. Successive lessees include HT Rossborough, William Kean , Arthur Hubner and AE Pickard and was closed in 1938 when the Trongate building was sold by the Pickard family to the multiple tailors Weaver to Wearer Ltd of Leeds, which in the 1950s became part of Great Universal Stores Ltd. Fortunately, following the removal of the false ceiling on floor one in 2003, the Britannia was opened again. It is currently being conserved by a trust who regularly perform traditional shows in the auditorium. In 1977 the building became a category A listed building.The Panopticon Trust has been formed as a building preservation trust to help acquire and restore the entire building as an entertainment venue and as a hub for the community. An annual programme of entertainments and events is managed by the Friends of the Britannia Music Hall Trust.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Britannia Music Hall (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Britannia Music Hall
Stockwell Street, Glasgow Merchant City

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Britannia Music HallContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 55.8569536 ° E -4.2490324 °
placeShow on map

Address

Stockwell Street 33
G1 4RT Glasgow, Merchant City
Scotland, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

The Britannia Music Hall
The Britannia Music Hall
Share experience

Nearby Places

The Metropole Theatre

The Metropole Theatre started as the Scotia and was built in 1862 at 116, Stockwell Street, Glasgow, Scotland. Built to the designs of architect Robert Black for James Baylis, who later built the Theatre Royal in the Cowcaddens area of the city, it opened as the Scotia Hall, holding over 3000 people, with stalls and two galleries, reputed to be the first purpose built commercial music-hall in Scotland. Due to fire in 1875 it was rebuilt to the designs of architects Campbell Douglas and James Sellars and renamed The Scotia Variety Theatre, claiming to be the largest and best variety company in Scotland.The Baylis family headed by Christina Baylis continued to run it until 1892, selling it on her retiral to Moss Empires who ran it until 1897 when they opened their new Empire Palace in Sauchiehall Street. At this point Edward Moss leased the theatre to HH Morrell and F Mouillot who named it The Metropole and presented plays, usually melodramas. Successive lessees included Arthur Jefferson who reintroduced variety. In 1926 it was sold to Bernard Frutin whose family continued to present variety, summer shows and winter shows for four decades, until fire destroyed the building on 28 October 1961.Thereafter the Frutins bought the former Empress Theatre in St George's Cross in the West End of the city which in 1960 had been renamed The Falcon Theatre run by the Falcon Trust who staged plays and hoped to extend the building. The funding was not available for an extension and proposed performing Arts Centre and instead it was purchased by Alec Frutin in 1962 as a replacement for his former theatre in Stockwell Street. The St George's Cross building now opened as the New Metropole.In 1964 Jimmy Logan, by agreement with Alec Frutin, bought the theatre, renaming it Jimmy Logan's Metropole. It prospered with variety, comedy plays, winter shows, and a Royal Variety Gala jointly with Scottish Television but found itself in an area which Glasgow Corporation was depopulating to peripheral housing schemes. The musical Hair opened in 1970 and ran for 10 months, its first outing outside London. Despite this success the theatre now drained money and closed in 1972. It lay derelict for many years before finally being demolished for a new housing development in 1990.

The 13th Note Café

The 13th Note Café is a restaurant, bar and music venue in Glasgow, Scotland. From its beginnings on Glassford Street (what is now Bar Bacchus), the 13th Note moved to its present site on King Street in 1997. A few years later, the 13th Note franchise expanded to include a larger club venue on Clyde Street. The holding company that owned both venues went into receivership in November 2001. In the summer of 2002, The 13th Note Club was bought over by the Channelfly Group (owners of the Barfly franchise), leaving only the café venue still open under the original 13th Note name. The venues of the 13th Note have hosted concerts by a number of notable acts, including Idlewild, Belle & Sebastian and Franz Ferdinand. The basement of the original location in was iconic in the Glasgow Indie scene. Hosting many club nights: an example is The Kazoo Club was launched by Jim Byrne (Dexter Slim and the Pickups). Solo performers and bands could come along and play no matter their experience. There was no charge for entry. Alex Kapranos was one of the first performers. On the opening night everyone who came along was given a kazoo. Local artists drew in charcoal on paper pinned to the walls behind the musicians as they played. The venture was a big success and the owners introduced an entry fee. Alex Kapranos took over the running of the club night. Prior to forming Franz Ferdinand, Alex Kapranos was the music programmer at the venue, hosting the Kazoo Club and 99p Club. The current music programmer is Brendan O'Hare.