11 cinemas around Edinburgh's Southside from yesteryear
By Lisa Sibbald
Published 6th Nov 2020, 16:45 BST
Updated 6th Nov 2020, 16:56 BST
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Edinburgh’s Southside and adjacent areas were once full of cinemas, and despite there being so many, there would be long queues to get in.
Now there are sadly none, although there is some promise of the former New Victoria on Clerk Street, which is currently owned by the G1 Group, being reopened to include a cinema.
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Exterior of the Classic cinema in Nicolson Street Edinburgh. Opened in 1912 as La Scala, by March 1986 the Classic was showing mostly adult films and closed in 1987. Photo: Alan Ledgerwood
Situated on Nicolson Street, The Cinema House was in a long, low building in the back court of tenements next to the Royal College of Surgeons. It opened in 1903 as the North British Electric Theatre and closed as The Cinema House in 1930. Photo: ALBERT JORDAN
Today we know it as the Festival Theatre, but this spot in Nicolson Street originally housed the Empire Palace Theatre of Varieties. The theatre opened in 1892 and Edinburgh's first cinema show took place here in 1896. Photo: Unknown
Situated on North Richmond Street, the Abbey opened in 1920 in a former synagogue, and closed around 1932. Youngsters called it "the Scabby". Photo: Contributed
The Waverley opened in Infirmary Street before 1911 in a former church, and closed in 1922. The building now belongs to the University of Edinburgh. Photo: Google
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