Located at Charing Cross at the corner of B'ness Road and Station Road in Grangemouth. Originally opened as the Electric Empire Cinema on 13th December 1913.
It re-opened as La Scala Cinema in June 1916. Partially re-built when sound was indroduced in 1930, it suffered some damage from a a fire in 1952 and again in 1962.
The La Scala Cinema closed in 1971 and was converted into an independenly operated bingo club, which operated as the Carlton Bingo Club until 2006, when it was closed. One of the reasons given was the new law banning smoking in public places.
On 2nd May 2007, Historic Scotland designated the La Scala a Grade C(s) Listed building.
I'd had high hopes for this one, it looked to be fairly unadulterated from the few photos I'd seen of it. Upon getting inside it became apparent that it's in much worse condition than it first appeared - dry rot, wet rot, structural failure and general decay have taken their toll severely in most areas of the building.
The circle was quite well preserved, retaining it's original seating and paneling. The plasterwork on the proscenium and balcony were all original, nothing too flamboyant but surviving fairly well intact. Other than that there was little of interest to see to be honest. The entire roof of the foyer has completely collapsed, and the other areas outside of the auditorium were fairly well modernised. Projection room had a few bits of switchgear but was fairly well cleared out. It being a small cinema, it lacked those cubby holes that usually yield the old tat that I crave in such a building. I think the most noteworthy thing to see was the damp and wet have washed all of the whitewash off the walls, revealing an interesting 1930's paint scheme along the walls of the auditorium.
As it appeared in the 1990's as a bingo club
And today. Kindly decorated with till rolls by the local neds!
From the circle
Some of the original seating
Bare projection room, just a few switchboxes left.
Proscenium
A bit of Kalee kit in the re-wind room
Cheltenham Odeon eat your heart out!
This sign can be seen by the stage in the 1990's photo
And some 80's / 90's posters I found rolled up behind a water tank on the stage
CAC bingo - catchy name!
