Gaumont Edinburgh

According to the report in the Edinburgh Evening News, the fire that closed the Gaumont broke out around 6pm on Wednesday May 30th 1962 during the second showing of that week’s feature film, A Pair of Briefs. There were around 150 patrons watching the film who were safely evacuated (some apparently taking the time to enquire about a refund on their way out). The fire began above the screen (the Gaumont was a back to front cinema, the screen was at the entrance end), and spread to the whole roof which collapsed into the auditorium. There was not much likelihood that Rank would rebuild the Gaumont. They also had the New Victoria (soon to be renamed Odeon) and due to allocation of product rules didn’t even play all of the Rank releases (many of which went to the Playhouse).