ABC Sauchiehall Street Glasgow

There had been entertainment of one kind or another on the site at 326 Sauchiehall Street, between Scott Street and Dalhousie Street since 1875. A Panorama of Bannockburn, an ice skating palace, Hengler's Circus and a Palais de Danse have all occupied the site that John Maxwell chose for his Glasgow flagship cinema.

The Regal was opened by Lady Weir at 2.30pm on Wednesday November 13th 1929 to the accompaniment of large ads in the press describing it as "Britain's New Wonder Cinema" where patrons were assured that "In an atmosphere of dignified and entrancing beauty all the pleasures of perfect entertainment are yours"

Designed by Charles J. McNair, The Regal had 2,359 seats, with front stalls at 1 shilling, stalls at 1 and sixpence and the circle at 2 shillings

The Regal's first film was rather unusually, not a premiere but Al Jolson's The Singing Fool, transferring from ABC's Coliseum on the South Side where it had made Glasgow cinema history as the city's first talkie and enjoyed great success. This presumably accounted for its short two week run at the Regal before it was replaced by Broadway

Melody which ran concurrently at The Coliseum, an ABC policy that was to continue for many years.

The Regal's location backed onto the Glasgow School of Art with a steep slope up to Garnethill necessitating the placing of the auditorium on the first floor with shops on the ground floor and a small car park in the basement. The exterior featured arched windows at first floor level on either side of an asymmetrically placed entrance, decorated with neo-classical and art deco motifs.

Once inside patrons were greeted by staff smartly dressed in brown and gold, with the usherettes rather impracticably wearing high heels.

Pay boxes on either side of the entrance led to twin flights of stairs taking patrons to the auditorium, a contemporary description on the next page gives an idea of its beauty.

Originally The Regal

326 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre

Opened: November 13th 1929
Closed: October 1999

Number of screens: 1929: 1
Number of screens 1979: 4

Number of seats 1929: 2359
Number of seats 1979: 970, 306, 206, 192