The West End Playhouse, designed by W B Whitie, opened in St George's Road in 1913 with a capacity of 1,300. The name changed over the years to Empire Variety Theatre, New Empress and Falcon Theatre, and it was renamed the Metropole in 1962 following the destruction by fire of the original Metropole in Stockwell Street a year earlier.
Jimmy Logan bought the Metropole in 1964 for £80,000, intending to use it as a showcase for Scottish farce. Despite some popular productions, and the staging of the high-profile musical Hair, the venture was not a financial success and the theatre closed in 1972. It lay derelict for many years before finally being demolished in 1990.
Reference: Mitchell Library, Theatre Collection
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Archives
Keywords:
Empress Variety Theatre, Falcon Theatre, farce, Hair, Jimmy Logan's Metropole Theatre, music halls, musical comedies, New Empress, theatres, variety, West End Playhouse