The world’s tallest Cineworld in Glasgow is set to close

We visit Glasgow City Centre’s Cineworld which is about to close its doors after 20 years.

Transcript

00:00So the cinema behind me here, the Cineworld, is closing on the 28th of September as its

00:05owners are taking it back from Cineworld. It is the peak of Glasgow's skyline, it is

00:12the tallest cinema in Europe. It's insane, it's closing.

00:16So the actual building is owned by Omniplex which is an Irish company who acquired the

00:21building earlier this year and essentially they are taking it back from Cineworld. Whether

00:26that is to make it into a cinema of their own, I mean you would naturally think so because

00:32it is obviously built to be a cinema, I don't imagine, it would take a lot of work to transform

00:37it into something else. So it is the building at the top of Renfrew Street, so many Glaswegians

00:42have memories from this building. My first film that I ever saw in it was Glass with James

00:48McAvoy and I remember being stunned by how huge the rooms were, I'd never seen anything

00:54like it in my life. So it was claimed to be the tallest cinema in the world when it was

00:59opened in 2001 and then Cineworld took it over in 2005, so it has been under their operation

01:06since then. So 20 years that has stood there as a Cineworld. It has been part of the Glasgow

01:13Film Festival, it's been a huge place for many people. Cineworld also closed their Park Head

01:20cinema recently and it is believed that all staff will be made redundant. We're going to go into

01:28the cinema right now and have a wee look of what once was Cineworld and what will never be again,

01:33or may never be again. So that film Glass I just mentioned came out in 2019. I am sure I went there

01:40earlier though, I think it was maybe in 2016 so possibly it was another film. I do remember going in

01:46the wind because I had to take pictures, I was face-timing people. I couldn't believe the size

01:51of it. It was like, it literally blew me away. I've not been that shocked by something in a while.

01:57It was the biggest thing I'd ever seen. Here we are in the front door. So let's go in.

02:06That's not the front door. That might be the staff entrance. Here we are at the entrance. These are the

02:12last films currently showing. The last films that will ever show at this Cineworld. Me and my friend

02:18visited Sight Hill the other day. From where we were we could see this Cineworld in the distance.

02:25It looked gorgeous. And like the sunset, just poking up out the sky glowing, it was lovely. This is

02:32especially sad for me. I feel like in Glasgow, in Scotland specifically, a lot of money has been

02:38invested recently in maybe more scientific endeavours, in education, a lot of money on tech and AI.

02:46I mean, a cinema is kind of a foundation for creativity, isn't it? It's one of the first things

02:53you're exposed to when you're younger. You come to the cinema with your parents, you watch films,

02:58you grow a love for films. I mean, everyone really watches films, don't they? It really absorbs your

03:05imagination. It triggers your imagination. It's such a beautiful thing. And to see so many cinemas

03:11close down is really, really sad, to be honest. And this really became apparent to me with the

03:19filming of Spider-Man, the amount of little kids that were out and how that spurred a love of Spider-Man

03:25for them and interest. And it would have spurred an interest in actual film and filmmaking for so many

03:30people. Storytelling. I mean, imagine being like a wee kid and that was like, you've seen the real

03:35Spider-Man being filmed and then being taken next year to the cinema with your parents to go see it

03:40and knowing that you were a little part of that. I do forget how long it takes to get up and down though.