The King's Picture Theatre in James Street, Bridgeton, was an early East End cinema, opened by Samuel Gratton in 1910 with a capacity of 1,400. The audience's view of the screen benefited from a sloping floor, a legacy of the building's previous use as a roller skating rink.
Personal appearances by film stars always attracted large audiences and the King's was visited by Edward G Robinson and Laurel and Hardy in the 1930s. The King's closed in 1959 but this 1975 photograph of Vertis House shows that the facade had been retained.
Reference: Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
cinemas, King's Picture Theatre, roller skating rinks, Vertis House