Kinnaird Picture House

The Public Hall & Corn Exchange was desigened by architect Charles Edward and opened in 1858. In 1865 it was re-named Kinnaird Hall and was used for meetings, concerts & lectures. From the late-1890’s it began use as a roller skating rink. Moving pictures were first screened on 8th January 1897 as part of Hamilton’s Diorama Show. It proved so popular that films were a regular part of the programming.

In 1919 it was converted into a full-time cinema with 1,268 seats and was named Kinnaird Cinema. In 1928/1929 alterations were made to increase the seating capacity to 1,476 and it was equipped with a RCA sound system, becoming the Kinnaird Picture House.

In August 1944 it was taken over by the J.B. Milne circuit and in November 1954 it was equipped with CinemaScope. The first film to be screening in this process was Clifton Webb in “Three Coins in the Fountain”. The Kinnaird Picture House was closed in 1962.

It was converted into a bingo club. It was badly damaged by a fire on 2nd January 1966 and the remains of the building were demolished in 1969. A parking garage for the Overgate Shopping Centre now stands on an expanded part of the site.

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