A feasibility study for the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall

Britannia Panoptican Music Hall was built 1857 in Trongate, Glasgow and is the last surviving music hall in Scotland. The Panopticon Building Preservation Trust aim to bring this building back to life and create a vibrant venue in Glasgow for the local community.

The Britannia Panopticon was a place of entertainment and cinema-going for the industrial working classes. It was the first purpose-built music hall in Glasgow to be developed from the ‘so-called free and easies’ (Paul Maloney, Herald Magazine, 1998), and followed the tradition of the ‘Glasgow Fair booths and ‘penny geggies’ with their freak shows, juggling acts etc’ (Elspeth King).

We have awarded £15,000 towards a Feasibility Study of this historically outstanding, Category A listed building. The feasibility study is an important early-stage step to identify the viability of operating this historic building. Historic Environment Scotland states, ‘the former Britannia Music Hall is an exceptionally rare survival of a music hall’ and other organisations like the Architectural Heritage Fund, the Stafford Trust and individual donations are contributing towards this work.

Part of the study will investigate the accessibility of the buildings entrance and each floor. The study will also include a condition survey and valuation, a project brief, a project budget and funding strategy and a project programme plan. All planned works will focus on conserving and preserving the buildings architectural and historic fabric and merit.

This grant comes from our Preservation and Conservation grant programme. Within the Preservation and Conservation grant programme, we support projects in their early stages of development and to help them unlock funding from other sources.