Plaza Cinema

In Port Glasgow, on the Firth of Clyde near Greenock, A. B. King was chairman of a new company, set up in 1939, to replace the 1914 Palace Cinema. The plans, originally for a cinema to be called the Eclipse Cinema to seat around 2,000, were drawn up by architects Lennox and McMath, who had also designed cinemas such as the Globe Cinema, Johnstone and the New Bedford Cinema, Glasgow.

The exterior had a deep foyer block, with a three-storey central section and boxy façade that was punctuated by a series of narrow windows, and a centrally mounted, vertical ‘PLAZA’ sign in an italic font.

Construction started in 1939, but was halted by the onset of war, leaving an empty shell. It was not completed until 1952, opening as the Plaza Cinema. Despite the delay in opening, the internal decoration was still very much in a 1930’s style.

Four pairs of doors led into the entrance foyer, with waves of terrazzo decoration on the floor, and three signature cone-shaped light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. At either side of a main ticket kiosk, stairs led up to the stalls (on the left) and the stalls and balcony (on the right). The spacious balcony foyer was originally appointed with tubular chromed-metal and leather settees. In the floor, the central compass-shaped feature in the wavy-patterned rubber floor was a nod to the town’s sea-related heritage.

The ceiling and walls of the auditorium, decorated in peach tones, stepped down towards the screen, with concealed lighting behind the vertical pillars and roof alcoves. Curtains in turquoise, with a floral border picked out with butterflies, opened to reveal the screen. Twin horizontal plaster-work strips with a thistle motif led from the sidewalls to the proscenium, and were mirrored by similar vertical strips on the ceiling.

The Plaza Cinema closed in 1972, and became a County bingo hall. As was their style, they covered the central portion of the façade with brown corrugated iron cladding bearing their logo. The stalls area was levelled and bingo tables installed, but the balcony was left untouched. Despite the rather rundown external appearance, the interior appears to have been well-maintained.

The former Plaza Cinema changed hands along with the rest of County’s properties in early-2006, when it was sold to Gala Bingo. In September 2006, Gala were refurbishing the exterior of the building, and added their own signage to the façade, and also made other alterations, including replacing the original main doors.

Unfortunately, Gala Bingo has subsequently moved out. In 2011 the shuttered building was up for sale and had been purchased to be opened as a bathroom showroom.

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