Canniesburn Toll, Bearsden

Opened: October 8th 1934
Closed: October 18th 1986

Designed by: Cowiesons Ltd.

Number of screens: 1 (1934)
Number of screens: 2 (1975)

Number of seats: 1120 (1934)
Number of seats: 229, 287 (1975)

Opened in October 1934 by Suburban Picture House Ltd, and designed and built by Cowiesons Builders, the 1128 seat Rio Bearsden while not luxurious, was spacious and comfortable, with seats, carpets and curtains by well - known Glasgow furnishers Wylie & Lochhead.

In June 1938, the Bearsden cinema and its sister cinema in Rutherglen were sold by owner Peter Crerer to Scottish Central Cinemas (CAC) , who would run them successfully for nearly 50 years.

The programme for September 1939 illustrates The Rio's family entertainment policy - Astaire and Rogers in Follow the Fleet and Preston Foster in We are only Human (a scared cop is a dead cop!) were among the highlights.

Ticket prices in the 30s ranged from fivepence for the stalls to one and three for the front circle. Facilities included a cloak room for coats and parcels and a tea room open between 2 and 10pm selling 'teas at popular prices'

1944 - escapist entertainment was the order of the day and the Rio was no exception.

Next to advice on where to get your new ration card and Ministry of Food recipes telling us 'how delicious cabbage could be' were the Rio's ads for wartime favourites Mutiny on the Bounty and The Cat and the Canary.

Highlights at the Rio in the sixties included Carry on up the Khyber and Hang 'em High in January 1969 and Thoroughly Modern Millie in February.

In sixties Glasgow, a popular night out was a visit to a 'cocktail bar' or steak house and in 1969, CAC leisure submitted plans to 'alter and extend the cinema to form a steak house, cocktail bar and car park'.

The plans were rejected and The Rio went into the seventies as a single screen playing some of the biggest films of the decade, including Funny Girl, Doctor Zhivago and Where Eagles Dare.

The Rio was twinned in 1975 and remained a popular cinema until its closure on October 18th 1986, when the final programmes were Disney's Pinnochio and Gobots. The cinema was demolished shortly after closure and the land sold for housing.