Edinburgh Cameo Under Threat

posted by Gordon Barr on November 14, 2005 at 7:56 am

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND — A planning application has been lodged with Edinburgh City Council to radically alter the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh. Under the plans the current bar area would be converted to a small 31-seater screen, and the current 250-seat Screen 1 – the original, largely unaltered and never subdivided 1914 original auditorium – is to be converted to a large bar and restaurant.

You can see a full history of the building – and lots of photos of the stunning interior here.

Despite that this is quite clearly a change of use from a cinema with bar attached to primarily a bar with a cinema attached, the applicants appear to be hoping to get it through under their existing licenses. Unfortunately the cinema itself is not listed; however the surrounding buildings are C(s)-listed. We are writing to Historic Scotland to ask them to consider spot-listing the cinema itself.

Detailed documents of the planning application (ref. 05/03696/LBC):
http://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/publicaccess/dc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=IPL1VXEWU1000
PDF files of the plans here:
http://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/WAM/showCaseFile.do?appType=DC&appNumber=05/03696/LBC

The closing date for objections to the application is 9th December 2005.

News coverage of the application
The Herald:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/50611.html
and
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/50613.html
The Scotsman:
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=2227192005

If you’d like to consider objecting to this application, you can do so online through the ‘Submit Comments’ link on either of the Edinburgh Planning links above, or (preferably) in writing, quoting the reference number 05/03696/LBC to
City Development Department
Planning and Strategy
1 Cockburn Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1BJ
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