Picture House

The Picture House had a long foyer stretching below the Royal Hotel with period film advertising boards displaying coming attractions attached to the walls on either side. A small central paybox faced patrons entering the building. The stalls were accessed through doors to left and right at the far end of the foyer. A sales kiosk was located just to the left of the balcony staircase. It was always stocked with a superb selection of confectionery, ices, drinks and cigarettes.(Smoking in all parts of the house in those halcyon days!) The auditorium, located behind the hotel, was unusual in that it was entered at the screen end. Square and very plain with no decorative features,(in contrast to Arbroath’s other cinema, the Palace), the auditorium nonetheless exuded an atmosphere of comfort and luxury. One large centrally mounted deco style ceiling light provided illumination. The screen drape was a one piece gold satin vertically rising festoon lit during intervals from various coloured footlights. The stage was very high, at least six feet, causing neck ache (I speak from personal experience) to front stalls patrons. The sightlines from the balcony were superb. The Picture House, together with it’s sister cinema The Regal, Broughty Ferry, was maintained to a very high standard by Arbroath Cinema Company, which was the first exhibitor in the county of Angus to install CinemaScope with four track magnetic stereo sound in the 1950s. Though the cinema entrance was fairly small and unimposing due to it’s location below an hotel, at night it was a local landmark. The Picture House sign was lit in red neon with a surrounding green neon border. Illuminated torches flanked the sign on either side. Internally lit showcases with film star portraits, posters and stills completed the scene. In 1968 Arbroath Cinema Company was taken over by Scottish cinema magnate J. B. Milne, his last aquisition before his untimely death at the age of 66 later that same year. Kingsway Entertainments who took over his circuit closed the Picture House in the early 1970s. It lay empty for several years until Kingsway moved their bingo operation from the Palais, James Street, (not to be confused with the Palace) into the former Picture House. It continues as a bingo hall today. The manager of the Picture House from the 1950s until it’s closure was Hugh Cunningham under whose supervision it provided Arbroath cinemagoers with entertainment and service standards comparable to any city centre circuit house. The Picture House was one of the last Scottish cinemas to use local billboard advertising throughout the town.