Cameo Picturehouse

The Kings Cinema opened on 8th January 1914 and was located across the road from the Kings Theatre. The entry was converted from a former drapers shop, with the auditorium built behind existing shops on ground which had been occupied by a riding school. It was owned by Mr Barlett and he employed a ladies orchestra to accompany the first week’s films.

In 1948 it was taken over by Messrs. Pooles and was re-named Cameo Cinema. With a seating capacity of 550, it became Edinburgh’s first house of ‘Continental’ films. The Cameo Cinema closed on 11th September 1982. It stood unused for four years, until it was taken over by new owners and re-opened on 16th August 1986.

Recorded Cinemas took over in 1991 and they added two screens to the cinema which seated 63 and 77. In 1996 it was taken over by Oasis Cinemas and they proposed plans for a fourth screen.

On 1st February 2000, Historic Scotland designated the Cameo Cinema a Grade C Listed building. In 2007, this was upgraded to Grade B Listed.

Recent comments (view all 18 comments)

Ian on February 21, 2007 at 10:05 pm

Photo from 1993 here:

View link

lostmemory on July 5, 2007 at 10:42 am

This is a recent photo of the Cameo Cinema.

garypainter on August 13, 2007 at 2:59 am

Just as an update, owners City Screen eventually withdrew the planning application to convert the main auditorium into a restaurant/screening area. Without a live planning application, Historic Scotland were then able to upgrade the cinema’s listed building status to from Category C(s) to Category B – being situated in the back court of a tenement, this has effectively upgraded the listing of the entire tenement on the grounds of the cinema auditorium within it. Hopefully, this will better protect the cinema from any future plans to covnert the auditorium for non-cinema use.

lostmemory on March 17, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Here is a recent photo of the Cameo at night.

Warren G. Harris on March 17, 2008 at 1:52 pm

It’s amazing how corporations can bastardize the English language and get away with it. I’ve never seen “picture house” as one word before, on either side of the Atlantic.

lostmemory on April 28, 2008 at 10:19 am

This is an April 2008 close-up view.

lostmemory on July 3, 2008 at 6:49 am

A June 2008 photo can be seen here.

lostmemory on December 1, 2008 at 11:18 am

Here is a November 2008 photo.

lostmemory on March 9, 2009 at 7:12 pm

This is a 2009 photo.

Ian on October 18, 2011 at 1:32 am

Photos of the Cameo from 2011:–

ENTRANCE

FOYER

CAFE BAR

NO.3 SCREEN AUDITORIUM

MAIN SCREEN AUDITORIUM