Vintage venue hosts musical event

The building has fallen into disrepair

One of the world's oldest music halls has reopened for a one-off performance on Tuesday evening.

Glasgow's Britannia Panopticon - where Stan Laurel and Cary Grant once performed - has not been in use for more than 60 years.

But musicians filled the venue's old rafters with sound on Tuesday night as part of the annual Celtic Connections festival.

It is hoped the event will raise the profile of the historic building.

The hall, which has existed in Glasgow's Trongate as a zoo, a freak show, a music hall and later a cinema, closed down 65 years ago.

New era

It has been estimated that it would cost £4.6m to restore the building's dust-filled interior to its former glory and a trust hoping to carry out such a project believes the celtic event could help attract funding.

The Panopticon, a converted warehouse which opened in 1857, was where Stan Laurel made his stage debut in 1906 and Archie Leach performed before moving to America and changing his name to Cary Grant.

The venue first opened in 1857

Fiddler Gillian Frame became the first person to perform there in more than half a century, following in the footsteps of such legends.

"I've walked past this building millions of times and had no idea, I always wondered why this particular part of the row was painted blue, but other than that I had no idea what was in there," she said.

Fire regulations mean only 60 people will be able to attend, a far cry from the thousand-strong audience the venue held in its heyday.

But supporters hope the event will be the start of a whole new era for the venue, and that there will be more performances to come.

Judith Bower, from the Britannia Panopticon Trust, said: "It's a little bit earlier than we expected to have a live performance in here.

"But it's a fantastic gauge for us, it actually helps us with the redevelopment because it help us show how popular the building is to the big bodies like Historic Scotland and Heritage Lottery."