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Logie Coldstone church
206 This photograph was originally titled "Newkirk from the Bridge, Dinnet" and shows Thomas Dawson's General Merchant shop in the background.
The actual church is somewhat north of Dinnet however - being in Logie Coldstone. The stone arch bridge has long been replaced with a much wider and more level surface protected by metal railings. Great Northern Road, Woodside
287 Today Woodside is a busy and thriving community with a dual carriageway and railway running through its heart. Modes of transport and services have changed radically over the past two hundred years but due to its location Woodside has always been part of a wider network and this has helped to drive industry and increase travel. Gala and Heather Day in the Duthie Park
395 This Adelphi Series postcard shows the Gala Day taking place in Duthie Park on 21st August 1915.
The Gala in Duthie Park and the accompanying Heather Day were both organised to raise funds for the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The Gala Day is one of largest events ever to take place at the park. It was estimated that between 25,000 and 26,000 people attended. Tickets cost 6 pence (6d) for general admission and 2s 6d for carriages or motor cars.
Within the park there was an elaborate programme of entertainment and refreshments organised. Details of the programme were published in a 32 page booklet prior to the event. Upwards of 1,300 people took part in the programme.
Gates to the park opened at 3pm and the event officially commence at 3pm with a grand military parade. Lieut-Colonel A. H. Leith of Glenkindie, Garrison Commander, and Lord Provost James Taggart "took the salute" opposite the Hygiea statue.
The Gala and Heather Day were organised by a distinct committee; Taggart was its president and Alexander Findlay, Superintendent of Cleansing, was its chairman. Councillor H. J. Gray was the secretary and treasurer and Mr John Lints was his assistant. There were also conveners and secretaries for various sub-committees concerned with aspects like entertainment and refreshments.
There was a wide range of entertainment organised for within the park including singing, dancing, gymnastic displays, musical drill, motor cycle gymkhana and bayonet fighting. Various platforms saw performances from acts such as a company lead by D. M. Kinghorn, pierrots directed by Minnie Mearns, Dan Williams, and W. A. Craig's operatic choir. Charles Soutar lead a 500 strong choir of children from the city's public schools.
Practically all naval and military units present in the city were represented at the event and individuals from many of them took part in the sporting competitions. The day also included a 5-a-side football and tug of war competition. Preliminary matches for these took place prior to the day at Pittodrie Park.
The Gala Day was filmed and this was later shown as part of a special programme at the Picture House on Union Street from the 25th of the month.
Over £500 was taken at the gates for the event. Entertainment and refreshments within further increased the figure raised.
Heather Day itself generated another £474. This involved over 1,500 vendors going around all parts of the city selling sprigs of the plant. The sale started on the afternoon of the Friday and continued all through Saturday. Entertainment venues throughout the city were also visited.
The vendors were primarily young women and members of organisations like the boys brigade. Stores present in all areas of the city were replenished from a central depot at 173a Union Street. This in turn was supplied by the cleansing department buildings in Poynernook Road, where the preceding week had seen 200,000 sprigs prepared for sale. Peterhead, Inverurie, Ellon and Banchory organised their own Heather Days for the same fund.
The sum taken from both the Gala and the Heather Day was estimated at considerably over £1,000.
See the report in the Aberdeen Journal, Monday 23rd August 1915 page 8, for further details about the occasion. The Pleasure Park, Aberdeen Beach
397 A postcard showing John Henry Iles' Pleasure Park in the 1930s. The park's esplanade site, south of Wellington Street (roughly where Amadeus nightclub/the Range and part of the Queen's Links carpark would later stand), was leased to Iles by the Council in 1929. Illes was an amusement entrepreneur originally from Manchester.
The park's biggest attraction, in all senses, was the Scenic Railway roller coaster shown here. Iles was involved in several amusement parks around Britain and during a visit to New York he obtained the European rights to the design of the latest roller coasters. He subsequently erected his Scenic Railway in Aberdeen in 1929.
The roller coaster rose to 100 feet in the air at its highest point and was popular with holiday makers and locals throughout the 1930s. The local press recorded 21,000 children, between 3 and 14 years of age, carried on the ride during a special children's day that was held on Saturday 20th August 1932.
Part of the message written on the back of this postcard by a young visitor to Aberdeen reads "This picture shows you the scenic railway which I have been on and liked very much".
The Scenic Railway was sadly badly damaged by fire on the night of 5th December 1940 and was consequently demolished. Other attractions of Iles' park included rides such as The Caterpillar, The Whip, Water Dodgems, and the Brooklyn Racers (petrol driven cars).
In the background of this image be seen the tower of St. Clements Church and a row of tenements, likely those on Wellington Street. Jack's Brae
710 A photograph looking north west up Jack's Brae, from its junction with Upper Denburn, in the Rosemount area. Jack's Brae was named after the owner of property there. This photograph likely dates from the mid-to-late 19th century.
The Ordnance Survey town plan of Aberdeen, 1:500 scale, surveyed in 1866-67 depicts a "Coffee Roasting and Grinding Works" at the top of Jack's Brae at its junction with Leadside Road. A large chimney of these works can be seen on the right side of this image in the distance.
These works were the premises of John Strachan. In the Aberdeen Post Office Directory for 1867-68, Strachan is described as follows:
"Strachan, John, coffee roaster, coffee, sugar, and sugar grinder, Jack's brae" (page 213).
Aberdeen City Council's Historic Environment Record describes the site thusly:
"Site of meal mills, built in the 18th - 19th Centuries and demolished in the 1980s. The works was two-storey with a basement, comprising a 9-bay range with a single kiln and a three-storey with attic 5 by 6-bay block of later date. There were also two 2-storey store blocks. The mill was originally water powered, later electrically driven. The OS 1st edition map depicts a coffee roasting and grinding works here; they are annotated as corn mills on the OS 25in map published 1924." (link here).
The business was known as John Strachan & Sons and the works as Gilcomston Mill. The business was started in around 1852 and John Strachan was succeeded as its proprietor by his son James Strachan (1838-1914). His obituary can be found in the Evening Express of 28th December 1914, page 5. His son, John Strachan, was later to become the business's managing director. The obituary of this later John Strachan can be found in the Press & Journal of 1st July 1935, page 8.
At the time of writing in 2022, the site is occupied by a residential complex called Strachan Mill Court - no doubt named after the coffee roasting and milling enterprise. Wellington Lodge
811 A photograph showing Wellington Lodge on the corner of Justice Mill Lane and Holburn Street.
The top of Holburn Street, towards Holburn Junction, was previously known as South Street and later as Wellington Place. In the background of this image, on the far left, can be seen the John Smith designed Water House on Union Street.
Wellington Lodge stood across the road from Holburn Church, roughly where the Glentanar Bar stands today. It can be seen on the large scale Ordnance Survey town plan and map sheets from the 1860s.
The property appears to have belonged to the Whytes of Dalhebity, Cults. For some time Wellington Lodge was the residence of Helen Whyte and she was likely the house's final resident.
Helen Whyte died aged 85 on 31st January 1898 (death notice: Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 09/02/1898, p. 4). Newspaper references suggest she was involved in various charitable activities. She was the daughter of Baillie John Whyte, a merchant, and had a brother also called John Whyte (1845-1904), a prominent citizen and advocate.
Another death notice indicates that Mary Ann Hardie, of 48 Victoria Road, Torry, was employed for 38 years as the servant for Miss Helen Whyte. Hardie died in 1895 (death notice: Aberdeen Journal, 17/08/1895, p. 4).
Newspapers also suggest the villa was the home of Miss Mary Murray Gordon. She would likely have been a relation of James Murray Gordon who was a partner in the same law firm as John Whyte, Helen's aforementioned brother.
Wellington Lodge was probably demolished shortly after the death of Helen Whyte. It made way for the extension of the larger tenement buildings on Holburn Street that can be seen in the background of this photograph.
The Aberdeen Weekly Journal's 'Granite Chips' column of 17th May 1899 (p. 9) states "A very large and handsome block of buildings for Mr Peter Farquharson has been erected in Holburn Street, stretching from the office of the Union Bank of Scotland to Justice Mill Lane." This most likely refers to this development.
David Miller in Archibald Simpson, Architect, His Life and Times 1790-1847 (2006) states that this villa was designed by Simpson for Mrs Yeats of Auquharney (page 174). Sandilands: aerial photograph
850 An aerial view of Sandilands Chemical Works looking east towards the sea. This image likely dates from around the mid-20th century.
Some of the houses on Garvock Wynd, the street on the right of this image, have disappeared compared to earlier aerial views. The next street along to the left, with "the Big Hoose" on its corner, is Baltic Street. Miller Street runs along the bottom of the image.
These chemical works began in 1848 when brothers John and George Miller of Paisley leased the land adjacent to gas works that had opened in 1844. Their intention was to process the by-products of coal gas manufacture. The business operated as John Miller & Company, known locally as "stinky Miller's", and went on to manufacture a range of products for North East agriculture.
An obituary for John Miller can be found in the Aberdeen Free Press of 6th March 1894, page 4. An obituary for George Miller featured on page 4 of the Aberdeen Weekly Journal of 11th September 1889.
In around 1928, Miller & Co. became part of Scottish Agricultural Industries (SAI). In the 1930s, the first SAI manager, Mr. Bremner, was appointed and this marked the beginning of the end of the Miller era.
SAI was formed in 1928, part of ICI agricultural division (ICI owned 51%), by combining firms such as J. Miller & Co. in Aberdeen, Milne in Dyce and firms in Carnoustie, Ayr, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Beyond the chemical works can be seen Queen's Links and the Pleasure Beach across Wellington Street. The esplanade and North Sea are visible beyond. John R. Reith, Chemist, Cults
1021 This photograph, from around 1910, shows John Reid Reith standing in the doorway of his chemists shop in Cults - then a village about 3 miles west of Aberdeen. Reith was a native of Cullen in Morayshire but served his apprenticeship in Aberdeen before moving to London for several years. When he came back to Cults, he opened this business. He was involved in many other village activities and was a member of the Cults Fire Brigade. He died in 1926 at the age of 58. The premises shown are still used as a chemist's shop, now known as St. Devenick's Pharmacy. George Street
1194 This 1987 view of the east side of George Street show the premises at 12-16 and at 20-22 George Street in their last days before being demolished. The Rubber Shop had been in business in the city since 1890 when its founder, George Fowler opened premises at 16 St. Nicholas Street called the London Rubber Company, supplying waterproofs, sports goods, hosepipes, washers etc. This expanded into a wide variety of toys and leather goods. In 1945, they moved from St. Nicholas Street to these premises in George Street where they continued to sell toys, sports equipment, china and fancy goods until July 1986 when the impending development of the Bon Accord Centre forced their closure. Aberdeen Central Library, Children's Department 2011
1415 A view of the Children's Library in 2011 when the split level floor had been removed partly due to health and safety reasons and to create more open space for events and activities. Hay's Views of Aberdeen
1810 A view of Aberdeen and the River Dee from the south west by lithographer John Hay and from 1840.
The view shows salmon fishing in the river and linen bleaching activities on the Torry side.
The spires of the South Parish Church, on Belmont Street, St. Nicholas Kirk and the Tolbooth can be seen on the skyline. The Castle Hill Barracks is also clearly visible. A School of Dolphins: High 10 for Archie at Central Library
2181 The body of the dolphin was painted by the in-patients at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital. Their ages range from 4 months old to 18 years. The base is covered in the handprints of the staff from Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital and The ARCHIE Foundation. The hands and the 10 colours used represent the High 10 appeal of The ARCHIE Foundation. Inauguration Ceremony
2213 The inauguration ceremony, during the royal visit, 1906, to open the new extension of Marischal College. This Fred Hardie image shows the University's then Principal, Rev John Marshall Lang, reading the inaugural address.
The inauguration took place at 1pm in the Marischal College quadrangle and was attended by various dignitaries and a large crowd.
To the left of Lang, who is holding his address by the granite pillar, is Sir Frederick Treves, rector of the University, Donald Alexander Smith (Lord Strathcona), the University's chancellor, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
See Record of the Celebration of the Quatercentenary of the University of Aberdeen, from 25th to 28th September, 1906 (1907) edited by P. J. Anderson, the University's librarian, for an account of the event and wider celebrations. Fishwife
2260 A fishwife, most likely from Torry, with a creel on her back, a basket and shopping bag in her hands.
The history of Torry is inseparable from fishing. Like Torry itself the fishing industry and its related activities saw great change over time.
Going to sea to fish was challenging and dangerous, but those left on shore did not have an easy life either. The Torry fishwife in this picture likely had to walk many miles into the centre of Aberdeen and back again every day carrying very heavy loads. Other time would be spent mending nets or curing fish.
The 20th century saw increased industrialisation of fishing. Rosie's Cafe
2667 Rosie's Cafe on the corner of Esslemont Avenue and Rosemout Place, photographed on 24th January 2018. The address is 137 Rosemount Place.
The cafe and takeaway is part of a social enterprise that provides vocational training, support and work experience for people recovering from acquired brain injuries, mental health and a range of other conditions. They also operate a framers and craft shop at 45-49 Holburn Street.
Rosie's Social Enterprise developed out of a craft workshop organised by Turning Point Scotland. The cafe in Rosemount opened in 1999.
The enterprise has won a number of awards over the years and has successfully bid for lottery funding. In 2012 they launched a wedding stationary business. MAIDINVINYL Records and Plan 9
2668 A photograph taken at the bottom of Rosemount Viaduct, on 24th January 2018, showing two local Aberdeen shops; MAIDINVINYL Records and Plan 9.
MAIDINVINYL Records, 7 Rosemount Viaduct, opened at these premises in April 2017 and sell a large selection of new and second hand records. On their website they state that "we believe that vinyl records are one of the greatest inventions ever made. They present music fans with one of the purest form of sound that any format of recorded music has offered."
Next door at 9 Rosemount Viaduct is the longstanding comic shop, Plan 9. Its name references both its building number and an Ed Wood cult film from 1959. The shop sells a large range of comics, graphic novels, toys, board games and related items. Gordon's College
2708 An Adelphi Series postcard (no. 437) showing the grounds of Robert Gordon's college in the early 20th century.
Originally a school for orphaned boys, it became Robert Gordon's College in the 1880s. This view is relatively rare as the College's courtyard is occupied by temporary buildings that were present for sometime in the 20th century.
This postcard was used by a Maude S. who lived at 4 Allan Street, Aberdeen to send a message to a Miss Ada Newnham in Cape Town, South Africa. Maude's message suggests it is the time of the First World War and briefly details her activities:
"I have been in training for munition work, & suspect to be called up any time now. I like the work very much. This is the college I trained at, but you can't see the building I was in, it is a bit to the side by the x". Note the "x" marked on the left of the postcard. Aberdeen Theatres: Wings for Victory
3376 Another example of the Music Hall's involvement in all manner of activities. It's central location on Union Street has historically made it a vital venue in the civic life of Aberdeen.
In this photograph the Music Hall is decorated for Wings for Victory Week in May 1943. This was a nationwide fundraising campaign for the Royal Air Force.
The image shows crowds on Union Street as soldiers parade past a box of dignitaries located on the Music Hall stairs. Aberdeen Cinemas: Star Picture Palace
3409 A photograph of the Star Picture Palace at the junction of Park Street and South Constitution Street in the 1920s. The cinema was an undertaking of Bert Hedgley Gates in partnership with his wife Nellie and with financial backing from local businessmen. Bert Gates was among Aberdeen's most influential cinema proprietors. He would go on to be the founding managing director of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, a highly successful company that would play a key role in cinema exhibition in the city.
The ever useful Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson details much of the history of the Star Picture Palace, known as The Star or Starrie, and the activities of Bert Gates. The cinema was converted from the former premises of the Aberdeen East End Mission. Its name was thought to come from a red-stained glass window in the shape of a star that was a legacy of its previous use. The Star's auditorium stood on the south side of South Constitution Street and its entrance, as shown here, was at 23 Park Street, underneath a block of tenements.
The cinema opened in March 1911 and showed a mixture of films and music. Bert and Nellie would stand behind the screen and add dialogue, sound effects and commentary to the silent films being shown. They also added topical references and allusions to well-known local figures. Both had backgrounds as stage artistes and their performances became a popular feature of the Star.
In 1913 the successful cinema was expanded, doubling its capacity, as Aberdeen Picture Palaces acquired the building and some houses to its rear. Thomson states that the remodelled Star was advertised as "Absolutely the Finest and Most Handsome Interior Out of Glasgow".
The Star had direct competition when the Casino cinema opened just around the corner on the north side of Wales Street on 7th February 1916. Thomson suggests that Gates responded to the Casino's popular and innovative cine-variety performances by programming his own varieties and mini revues. These included Miss Madge Belmont, "America's Handcuff Queen" and Birteno's Golden Grotto, "the most gorgeous electrical dance spectacle ever seen in Aberdeen - a display of serpentine and fire dancing by Belle Lumière, with marvellous kaleidoscopic colour effects".
The Star Picture Palace showed its first talkie, King of the Khyber Rifles, on 13th October 1930. In November 1932 the cinema suffered a fire caused by a dropped cigarette. The damage was relatively minor however and only put the Star out of action for a fortnight.
By the beginning of the second world war, the area around the Star was becoming depopulated as housing on Hanover Street and Albion Street was demolished to make way for the new Beach Boulevard. Bert Gates acquired control of the Casino in November 1939 with the idea of combining it with the Star to create one super-cinema that fronted onto the new thoroughfare.
Thomson explains that business was concentrated on the Casino and later that month the Star closed as a cinema for good. In 1939/40 it served as an indoor fun-fair and as the Boulevard Ballroom for the remainder of the war. The Star building was demolished, at the same time as the Casino, in 1971 to make way for a housing development.
Michael Thomson addresses the use of jam-jars for cinema admission in the first appendix to Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988). This includes an account of the Star Picture Palace from Ethel Kilgour who remembered going there as a child. Her description concludes as follows: "It was a great little cinema, jam-jar entry fee and all, and it was a form of escapism for so many children in a world so depressed between the wars".
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Cinemas: News Cinema / Curzon / Cosmo 2
3427 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Cosmo 2 at 15 Diamond Street in 1977.
The Cosmo 2 was on the site of Aberdeen's News Cinema that had opened 1936. In 1959 it had become the Curzon. In 1963 the Curzon was sold to Singleton Cinemas, a Glasgow based cinema operating firm that had been in the business since 1911.
The venue was renovated and re-opened on 22nd January 1964 as the Cosmo 2. The Cosmo 1 was the former King's cinema in Glasgow, owned by Singleton Cinemas, that is now the Glasgow Film Theatre. The inaugural film at the Cosmo 2 was the Italian film Il Posto directed by Ermanno Olmi.
The Cosmo 2 showed quality British and foreign films that might not have been shown at other cinemas. Michael Thomson likened this valuable role to that of the old La Scala long before. It could also be likened to the role of the Belmont in more recent times.
The Cosmo 2 sadly closed down in August 1977. The closure was credited to a dearth of attractive foreign language films coupled with the now tripled major circuit venues taking a wider range of pictures.
There was much discussion if the venue could be carried on by another party with the Scottish Film Council suggested as a possibility. The smallness of the cinema made this unfeasible however as a Scottish Film Council venue would need adequate meeting and social space.
There were subsequent plans to convert the premises into a restaurant though these came to nothing. The fate of the cinema was sealed in September 1981 when the next-door Palais, then operating as Satchmo's disco club, was destroyed by a serious fire and the site was left roofless. The corner block towards Union Street survives but the rest of the buildings were later demolished and are now the site of a car park.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Coliseum / New Kinema / Belmont
3433 An Aberdeen Journals Archive image of the Belmont Cinema in 1952.
The building that now houses the Belmont Filmhouse was originally built in 1896 as a Trades Hall to a design by architects Alexander Ellis and Robert Gordon Wilson.
The grey granite ashlar entrance at 49-51 Belmont Street leads to the main building, best seen from Union Terrace and Rosemount Viaduct. With multiple floors, the building makes full use of the different levels of the Denburn valley. Historic Environmental Scotland's statement of special interest for the building notes its tall and narrow design and bartizan towers at its far end, describing it as "a distinctive piece of architecture."
Michael Thomson explains that the Trades Hall provided much needed accommodation for meetings, social events and lectures. The main hall originally featured ceiling paintings by Robert Douglas Strachan (1875-1950), who went on to become an acclaimed stained-glass artist.
The construction of the hall was an ambitious and costly undertaking for Aberdeen's labour movement. This led to the hall being increasingly rented out for commercial performances, including cinematographic showings.
William Walker, a local cinematographic pioneer who was also a successful bookseller, leased out the building's main hall as a picture house. The Coliseum was opened on 22 August 1910 by Messrs Walker and Company and so began the building's long life as a cinema.
In July 1911 Glasgow's J. J. Bennell took over control of the Coliseum. Popular features of the venue during Walker and Bennell's time included short "topicals" that documented local life and live variety acts. Thomson explains that Bennell was also a pioneer of Saturday morning matinees for children.
In August 1913 Dove Paterson, another local pioneer who had opened Aberdeen's first permanent cinema on Shiprow, took over at the Coliseum. Paterson died unexpectedly in May 1916 and this brought a temporary halt to the Coliseum cinema. It briefly reopened in December of that year under the management of the Trades Hall, but this only lasted a couple of months before the cinema closed again.
The cinema was then managed by veteran singer D. Brown McGill, who made use of his established contacts in variety circles. His tenure saw the venue complementing its programme of film showings with a range of other entertainments including roller skating, boxing and dancing.
On 11th April 1921 the cinema reopened as the New Kinema, under the management of Henry Philips, who had previously run the Picturedrome on Skene Terrace. One interesting performer at the venue in 1929 noted by Michael Thomson was an illusionist called Carletta who conjured up rabbits to give away to patrons as pets.
In 1935 the then proprietors of the New Kinema, James Brebner and George Walker, were involved in the formation of the Caledonian Theatre public company. It was formed to purchase the site of the La Scala cinema and nearby buildings on Union Street with the intention of building a new super-cinema. In time this would become the Majestic.
June 1935 saw the renovation of the New Kinema and renewal of its heating plant, lighting and sound equipment. It reopened as The Belmont on the 24th of that month.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Coliseum / New Kinema / Belmont
3437 The cinema on Belmont Street had operated as the Belmont from 24th June 1935. On 4th January 1938 it was announced that James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. had acquired a controlling share in Caledonian Theatres, who ran the Majestic on Union Street and the Belmont. Michael Thomson credits Caledonian Theatres' financial difficulties at this time to their inability to book the best films.
An organisation known as the Ship Contractors' and Ship Wrights' Association had a right to sell bond on the Belmont Street property that included both the cinema and the headquarters of the Aberdeen Trades Council. From 1946 onwards the aforementioned association tried to sell the property and this was contested by the Trades Council. This fight went all the way to the House of Lords but the Trades Council's appeal was dismissed in January 1949.
Caledonian Theatres had attempted to purchase the building outright from the Ship Contractors' and Ship Wrights' Association but this sale was interrupted by the Aberdeen Sheriff Court following an appeal from the Trades Council. In the end the building was sold to the NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) in February 1952 to be converted into their new Aberdeen headquarters.
Following this sale, the Belmont cinema closed on down 29th March 1952. Its final film was The Steel Helmet an American film, directed by Samuel Fuller, about the Korean War.
In mid-1956 NAAFI moved its accounts operations out of Aberdeen and put the block up for sale. On 22nd April 1958 the Clydesdale Supply Co. Ltd. moved from premises at 111/2 Rose Street to the former Trades Hall and cinema at 49 Belmont Street. The large premises were employed as the warehouse for the company's wide range of clothing, household goods, furniture, radios, televisions and radiograms. Clydesdale appear to have occupied the building until around 1962.
This Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph from 1966 likely shows the building when it was unoccupied.
During the early 1980s the building was used as a carpet showroom. In October 1994 plans were announced by Aberdeen City Council to create a media centre at 49 Belmont Street. This included three cinema screens, educational facilities and a café bar. The building was converted for this purpose but funding could not be secured for its operation.
The revamped cinema finally opened as The Belmont Picturehouse in September 2000 and was operated by the Picturehouse company. This firm was later bought by Cineworld and had to relinquish the lease on The Belmont in adherence with competition law. In 2014, the Centre for the Moving Image was selected to take on its management and the much-loved cinema became the Belmont Filmhouse.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Torry
3586 This photograph shows snow covered fifies and small line boats moored in the Torry Harbour. Two Peterhead steam drifters rest mid-shot.
This image faces North-East, towards a Torry leading lighthouse and North Kirkhill, which is visible in the distance. The South Breakwater lighthouse is visible just beyond.
The steam drifters presence indicates this photo was likely taken no earlier than 1905, when the Aberdeen Daily Journal started showcasing their launches.
Two buildings on the right of the image sit along Torry Quay. The building on the left, as indicated by its sign, is the University Bar. This was a pub in the building that still stands at the time of writing in 2023, though altered, at 170 Sinclair Road. It was a pub for many years, called Campbell's, and is currently a school of dance.
The Aberdeen Pub Companion (1975) by Archibald Hopkin suggests its original name was due to a connection to University boating activities. By the time of Hopkin's book, the pub was called the Nineteenth Hole, after its proximity to the Balnagask golf course.
Hopkin describes the Nineteenth Hole as a "splendid traditional pub", praising its wide range of drinks, decoration and fine view over the harbour to the North Sea. He also states that the licensee for many years, Charles Campbell (likely the source of the pub's later name) was regularly adding to the pub's range of over 130 whiskies. |