Rutherglen

Stonelaw Road

Electric Picture Palace

Image courtesy of Bruce Peter

o. 3.2.11 by Rutherglen El. Th. Ltd. s. 600. Cl. 1930. Billiard hall. Dem. C. 1968.

Main Street

Grand Central

Bruce Peter

Opened on 17th March 1921 for Grand Central (Rutherglen) Ltd, to plans drawn up by S. Adams - an architect about whom nothing else appears to be known. Seating was provided for 950. The Rutherglen Reformer reported the opening programme to include the silent drama Wolves of the Range, whilst musical entertainments were provided by baritone Mr Powell Edwards, of the Beecham Opera.

A lack of funds meant that the extensively tiled facade was not completed until two years after the opening, and the narrow hall proved both leaky and incapable of being adapted to Cinemascope. Closure came in December 1957, by which time Rutherglen was well-served with larger, better appointed cinemas nearby such as the Vogue and the Rio.

January 1947 Programme

Scottish Cinemas ArchiveScottish Cinemas Archive

Stonelaw Road

Green's Picturedrome

Other names: Cinema

Image courtesy of Bruce Peter.

Opened in 1914 by Green's. Architect John Fairweather. Original seating: 920.

Renovated and renamed in April 1936. Closed in March 1959 and demolished in 1985.

Historic plan

Historic plan courtesy of Chris Doak.

King St / Glasgow Road

Rio

Images courtesy of Bruce Peter

o. 23.9.35 by Suburban Pictures Ltd. Arch. Cowiesons. s. 2,017.

Sold to P. Crerar, 5.36; sold to CAC, 6.38. Cl., dem. 1971 for road building

Additional image of the auditorium block

Images courtesy of Bruce Peter

60, Main Street, Rutherglen

Vogue

Other names: Odeon

Scottish Cinemas Archive

A James McKissack design, the Vogue opened in January 1936, and seated 1,750. Sold with many other Singleton cinemas to Odeon in 1936, it remained a cinema until 1974, then went over to for bingo. Bingo opened on March 21st 1975 by star of TV's The Golden Shot, Anne Aston.

After closing during the Covid pandemic in 2020, it was announced by Mecca later that year that the closure was to be permanent.

It lay derelict until October 2025, when it was re-opened as the Beijing Banquet Buffet restaurant.

Photographs

Chris Doak.