Bostock's Scottish Zoo and Glasgow Hippodrome

Located in the Cowcaddens district to the north of Glasgow city centre. The Bostock’s Scottish Zoo and Glasgow Hippodrome was opened by Henry Edward Bostock and Thomas Barrasford on 2nd May 1897. It was a conversion and extension of the New Olympia Hall. The building was designed by theatre architect Bertie Crewe and housed a circus arena and stables for the animals and a 2,500-seat theatre used for variety shows. The iron-framed structure was clad in brick and dressed in stone and the entrances had twin towers topped with onion domes. All seating was a single sloping floor. Interior decorations were by the interior design company De Jong. In 1897 it presented the first cinematograph film in Glasgow when a French production of “Cinderella” was screened. Films continued to be screened as part of the variety programme. The Glasgow Hippodrome was closed as a variety theatre in 1909 and converted into a roller skating rink, but the roller skating craze soon waned and it was closed in 1910. The Scottish Zoo and circus was closed in 1918.

The building survives today, much altered as a supermarket and various business’s as part of Glasgow’s Chinatown.

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