Playhouse Cinema

In the small Midlothian town of Penicuik, to the south of Edinburgh, it is not known when the Empire Cinema opened, although it is listed in the 1927 Kinematograph Year Book as Scott’s Cinema. At that time, it was owned by J. Scott, Dunbar.

By the 1940 edition the cinema has been renamed Playhouse (and was by then owned by Scott’s Empires Ltd. Dunbar a subsidiary of the Caledonian Associated Cinemas Ltd. chain).

That ownership remained in the 1953 edition, which added a proscenium width of 18ft and a seating capacity of 673.

The Playhouse was also listed in the 1980 Cinema Directory published by the Cinema Theatre Association, albeit by that time part-time bingo had been introduced. The seating capacity was given as 959, which does not tally with the 1953 entry (673 seats), so one of these is probably incorrect.

The Playhouse is not listed in the 1984 British Film Institute Handbook, so presumably it closed to films in the early-1980’s.

By the time I visited, in March 2006, the building was home to Crescent Snooker Club, which continues to date (December 2015).

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