A lot of you will probably already know all about the Britannia but for the purposes of those who may not I'd like to post some information on what I strongly believe is an extremely significant and important part of our cultural heritage here in Scotland, particularly with regard to theatre, variety and of course burlesque.
The Britannia Panopticon is the UKs oldest surviving Victorian music hall and is such an extremely important landmark in the history of British theatre.
In 1857 the architects Thomas Gildard and H.M.McFarlane built a little music hall on the site of an old warehouse. The building opened as the Britannia Hall circa 1859 and today is the last surviving auditorium of it’s type in Scotland, and one of the last in Britain.
Over the years the Britannia changed ownership a number of times and was known by various names, including “Campbell’s Music Saloon” and “Hubner’s Animatograph”. Even the buildings use changed and on August 25th 1896 moving pictures began to be shown here on a regular basis.
Whatever the title, Britannia became “pre-eminently the most popular place of amusement” to the workers in the Second City of the Empire, making the Britannia one of the most important buildings to survive in connection to Glasgow’s social history.
In 1906 A.E.Pickard (a well known Glasgow character) bought the building and re-opened it as “Britannia and Grand Panopticon”.
Pickard was a man of diverse taste. Between 1906 and 1938 the building housed not just music hall and cinema entertainment, but also freak shows, waxworks, carnival and zoo.
The Panopticon - or “Pots and Pans” as it became locally known - was renowned for it’s Friday amateur nights when such stars as Stan Laurel and Jack Buchanan made their debuts. Even a young Archie Leech is said to have performed there before moving to Hollywood and changing his name to Cary Grant.
Unfortunately, in the wake of modern cinema buildings and the depression of the 1930’s, the Britannia Panopticon closed. Since 1938 the auditorium has lain silent, but intact. The ghost of a stage remains beneath a wooden proscenium arch and the benches that once supported the bottoms of many a raucous audience now only holds the dust of more than half a century, whilst the gold paint and ornate plaster crumble through the decades of neglect.
The purpose of the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust is to save and preserve -or assist in the preservation of- Glasgow's oldest theatre building which is also one of the last and oldest surviving Victorian music halls in Britain. The building received an "A" category listing in 1977
The trust was founded initially to rescue, for the benefit of the nation and world at large, an important piece of Theatre, entertainment, Cinema and social history. In the latter part of 1997, the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust established it's members who comprised the talents of Chairman Gordon Wyllie (Partner, Biggart Baillie, Solicitors) , Vice Chairman Councillor John Moynes (Councillor and Justice of the Peace), Treasurer Subhash Joshi (Partner, Panel Kerr Forster, Accountants and director of the Chamber of Commerce in Glasgow) Subash unfortunately died in 2001,Secretary Judith Bowers and Trustee Randall Mitchell (Mitchell's Amusements).
The Friends of the Britannia Panopticon were set up to allow members of the public to contribute to what (by 1999) was becoming quite a popular little building. People were asking if they could contribute and would often offer a donation, so by founding the Friends, subscriptions are encouraged enabling the project to rescue Britannia Panopticon to use the money raised to broaden the awareness of the building. This has been achieved through a variety of events, exhibitions and newsletters, talks and even Horse Drawn Tours.
There are a lot of performers on the Scottish scene, and beyond, who are avid supporters of this trust. Kittie Klaw & the MoB themselves are actively involved and have brought the trust forward in the consciouness of the public en masse by holding high profile High Tease events in Glasgow.
But we still need to spread the word - if you hadn't heard of the Panopticon I hope you found this information of interest and if you would like to find out more about the history and how to support please visit these links
Welcome to the Britannia Music Hall Trust's webpage
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Lucille B xx