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Picture Halls...."
kin
a go tae the pictures Mammy?"
OLYMPIA, Bridgeton Cross
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The Olympia ended its days as
an ABC cinema. It now stands derelict on Bridgeton Cross.
The music hall advert in this
photo dates from
1916..
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The famous ABC Olympia picture house.......this was my favourite picture
hall and the one I
attended the most, I especially remember every Saturday
morning going to the ABC minors...fantastic!
The Olympia theatre opened in 1911 seating 2000!
It was taken over by the ABC
chain in 1924, closing in March 1974.
It became a bingo hall until the late nineties, then a furniture
store.... but is now closed.
The facade is a listed B building..
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Extract from messageboard July 2003, Frank Harrigan,
Scotland, (email tba)
"........the ABC Minors at the Olympia? Takes me back.
There must be literally millions of those wee round tin badges that says
'ABC' - you know, the ones that glowed in the dark. Nowadays the only thing
that glows in the dark is the effluence that floats down the Clyde.
And as for the Olympia - that was the East End's equivalent to the Odeon in
the toon. When I was a lad, the Olympia seemed a posh place to me. Do you
remember how the big chandeliers used to dim very slowly just before the
start of the film?
My last recollection of the Olympia in all its glory was when they were
showing 'Goldfinger' - the queues were massive.
A few years later I headed south. By the time I came back up here the
Olympia was just a shadow of its former self, a forlorn building, its
majestic presence and status as a landmark (to me) along with the Umbrella
in Bridgeton - now becoming an eyesore."
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Building on fire 30th Nov. 2004
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Photo from Garry Painter at www.survivingcinemas.org.uk
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Sadly in November 2004 around 10.30 am
a massive blaze ripped through the old hall. A
man was found alive in the smoke filled building
but sadly he died later in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
The cinema had been getting used as an unofficial homeless
centre with a few people sleeping there to avoid the cold.
I hope this fire is not the excuse they need tae pull
the building
down. I have been told that planning permission has been
granted for flats .... provisio being that the Olympia facade
was kept intact..now this fire.
I would hate to see another Brig'ton landmark
demolished.
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