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Busy September written by Judith Bowers September was the busiest month of the year so far, crammed with amazing events, shows and open days. Silent Film We ended August with a celebration of 130 years of film with a screening of the very first films to be shown in the Britannia Music Hall on August 25th, 1896. The films were accompanied by Lawrence Dunn and Gilmore McLeod from Gladstone’s Bag, and it was just wonderful. This was closely followed by our Silent Film Night on W

The spooky season is almost upon us and where better to be than the world's oldest and probably most haunted music hall. From October 1st all the way to October 31st we have an excellent selection of events in store for you, from movies nights to magic there is something for everyone. Check out our events page for link to tickets, and grab them quickly as they sell out fast!

This year is a very special Glasgow Doors Open Festival as the theme is going out! This year the Britannia Panopticon will be open from the Thursday until the Sunday of the Festival from 12pm until 5pm with last admissions at 4.30pm. It's your chance to see the building for free! And there are a few wee extras over the weekend which we hope you will enjoy including our exhibition of ephemera, a few ad hoc acts and a dressing up box ready for your selfies. The bar will be open

This article was written by John Logie Baird after his visit to the Panopticon. And I heard a voice calling “Shibna! Shibna! Shibna!” and I answering said “Who art thou that calleth me thus untimely in the night season?” And there came again a voice saying “I am he whom men call Sweeny Todd from the netherworld and I am come to show thee many things whereof thou wottest not. And first will I show thee that temple of vaudeville; even the panopticon, which lieth hard by the gat

Fresh from playing the title role in Lear at Pitlochry and just before assuming the part of the Headmistress in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for the National Theatre of Scotland, the redoubtable Maureen Beattie will be revisiting one of her most colourful characterisations when she portrays Mary, Queen of Scots in a staged reading of W. Gordon Smith’s Marie of Scotland at the historic Britannia Panopticon Music Hall at 3pm on Sunday 13th September. The play evokes the last t

Join Judith Bowers at Hamilton Low Parks Museum on Thursday 30th July at 2pm for her talk on the history of Britannia Panopticon Music Hall. This is a rare chance to see her full talk about the history of the music hall and some of the stories and anecdotes that she has collected throughout the 29 years that she has been looking after the campaign to keep the music hall alive. You can book your tickets at https://www.quaytickets.com/sllcboxoffice/en-GB/shows/the%20britannia%2

Monday - Saturday from June 5th - 20th 10am - 5pm Moral Injury is the first ever art exhibition to be held within our historic and accessible venue. It will showcase new works by a group of Scottish based artists which explore the complex theme of Moral Injury through painting, sculpture and filmmaking. Free admission Join us for an exciting bookable workshop programme running during the exhibition and enjoy daily screenings of short films by some of the participating artis

Please help us get some recognition for Britannia Panopticon Music Hall and the work that the team, trustees and volunteers do to keep this valuable and unique music hall and the conservation campaign going. The Theatres Trust of Great Britain is launching a new awards scheme this year for Theatre buildings and before all the big fancy theatres win, please bombard them with nominations for Britannia Panopticon Music Hall. Nominations will open on Thursday 16th April. Click on

On Sunday 12 th April the Scottish Music Hall Society bestowed a lifetime achievement award on Tony Roper, one of the Patrons of the Friends of Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust and long-time supporter of our beloved music hall and the campaign. Judith Bowers (campaign founder and director) and Tom Kelly (trustee of the Friends of Britannia Panopticon Music Hall) were invited as guests at the luncheon. Judith was also asked to do a speech about Tony in which she thanked

The finalists take the stage with Aditya as he accepts his award and the title "Scottish Poetry Slam Champion 2026" Aditya Narayan is our new Scottish Poetry Slam Champion for 2026, triumphing in a tightly fought contest at The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall on Saturday 14th February. Congratulations to Aditya and many thanks to all the poets, judges and helpers who made the event a sell-out success. Aditya has now been invited to take part in the World Series in Paris in Ma

On February 23rd 1997, Judith Bowers was walking past an old building with a peeling facade and thought "I wish someone would do something about this building." She was familiar with the legend that above a false ceiling resided an old music hall; in fact she included the story of Stan Laurel's debut and Freakshows in her Ghost Tours. Then, as she was looking up and wondering what actually survived of the old auditorium, someone tapped on the window. She looked around and saw

Fells Waxworks, Trongate courtesy of The Mitchell Library, Glasgow This wonderful photograph came to us recently from Laraine Fell, whose Great, Great Grandfather was Mr Fell of Fells Waxworks located at 101 Trongate. The building is the slightly faded section on the righthand side of this photograph from circa 1901. In 1904 A.E. Pickard arrived in Glasgow and purchased the waxworks from Mr Fell who was retiring. The museum had some strange and bizarre objects. At the entran

Last Friday was a first for us at the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall as we welcomed the BA Performance (BSL and English) Students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The BA Performance for Deaf and HoH actors is a unique, three-year undergraduate programme designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing actors, developed in partnership with Solar Bear . It is the only course of its kind in Europe, focusing on acting, movement, and theatre-making using British Sign Language (BS

It is sad to say that another friend has passed away, the wonderful Fay Lenore. Fay was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1928 to a show business family. By the age of 18 months she was already treading the boards and by the time she was 15 she was a regular on the stage. Fay was a singer, a dancer, a soubrette and an actress. Her long legs and short auburn hair made her a popular principle boy in pantomime and in the 1950's she joined The One O'clock Gang Show. But Fay is best

What a fantastic night we had on Saturday 27th January. Our Burns Night Show was a sell-out and we can't thank our performers enough for a hilarious, edifying, and memorable show with Robin Cairns introducing the acts with a journey through the life of the bard included between each one. Rabbie's poems were celebrated in word and song, starting off with A Man's a Man for a' That, the beautiful Eugenia Garcia Constable who sang Ae Fond Kiss, Andrew Gibbons wowed the audience

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Pamela Brown on Sunday 11th January. Pam was a much loved musician and had been performing at the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall since 2014. She played trumpet for many of the silent films, for the Great War cine-variety shows from 2014 to 2018 where she played the Last Post, and for orchestral concerts with Gladstone's Bag and Friends. She had been battling against cancer for some time and until recently it appeared tha

We are so delighted to announce that we now have wheelchair access to the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall! A very generous and kind donator recently gifted us the money to buy a Skyline Stair Climber and two Evac chairs – all supplied by the fantastic and very friendly Stair Climbing Company https://thestairclimbingcompany.com/ The Skyline is modelled here by Agnes from Mrs Mitchell’s Sweet Shop and at the controls is Steve from The Stair Climbing Company. I cannot thank The

Welcome to our new website and the New Year 2026! It’s only the beginning of January and already we have had quite a year. The Jessies invited everyone round for an afternoon New Year bash which finished so early everyone was back in their Jammies by 7pm! Since then, we have had our first Comedy Club of the year with a stella collection of local comedy talent, including the return of Ed Whitley, James the Hobbit and regular MC, John (Taps Aff) Carruthers, with the wonderful G