Perth cinema upgrade plan lodged with council

May 14 2010 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THE owners of the Playhouse Cinema have lodged plans with Perth and Kinross Council to make changes to the frontage and foyer of the art-deco building in Perth’s Murray Street.

The Glasgow-based G1 Group is Scotland’s largest independent leisure operator, and owns more than 40 venues throughout the country.

The company’s portfolio of restaurants, bars, clubs, cinemas and hotels includes the Fair City’s Bothy venue, just a stone’s throw from the Playhouse Cinema.

G1’s plans tabled this week indicate the potential refurbishment of the cinema’s ground floor foyer and two new traditional-style entrances from Murray Street, plus the replacement of the landmark’s existing frontage and canopy.

The company has also submitted a listed building application because of the B-listed status of the city centre cinema, which opened in 1933 and still retains many of the original art deco features despite refurbishments in the late 1970s and in 1999 when it was converted to a seven-screen cinema.

Four years ago the building’s previous owners Cairnstar (Perth) Ltd gained planning consent for a £2 million extension, which included a first-floor lounge with glazed roof and private dining room, but this project was never implemented.

l PLANS have been lodged to build five up-market detached houses on ground previously used for farming/grazing at Prinns Smithy, lying in the countryside between Gateside and the Bein Inn.