The second oldest theatre in Scotland after the Dumfries Theatre Royal, and the oldest and most originally intact early-Victorian music hall, the Britannia Music Hall occupies the first and second floors of a former warehouse building on Glasgow's Trongate. The ground floor of the building is used by the current owner as an amusement arcade. Grade A listed, the theatre was in regular use until the 1930s and gave Stan Laurel his comic debut in 1906 and actor Cary Grant, using his original name of Archie Leach, performed here early in his career. It was also used to house a zoo, waxworks, a freak show and a carnival, and showed regular films since 1896. The projection box in the building dates from 1904 and is one of the oldest in the country. Closed to the public, the building has lain hidden since 1938 and has only recently been brought to the public's attention through its inclusion on the BBC's Restoration TV programme in 2003.
The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust has been founded to restore and reopen the building.
