Olympia Theatre

Towering over Bridgeton Cross is the imposing structure of the Olympia Theatre of Varieties, which first opened in September 1911.

Before closing in the mid-1990s, it also served as a cinema, bingo hall and furniture warehouse. Since then, the building has fallen into disrepair - but stands as a symbol and reminder of Bridgeton's proud history and heritage.

Responding to public demand. and with support from the Scottish Government's Town Centre Regeneration Fund, we bought the building in September 2009. Work is underway on a £10m project to redevelop the building with a new public library and cafe on the ground floor, a High Performance Centre for Amateur Boxing on the first floor and two upper floors of office space.

Over half of the cost has been secured from grant funders, including Heritage Lottery Fund, Sportscotland, Historic Scotland, Better Glasgow Fund and the Trades' House Commonwealth Fund.

The contractor is CCG (Scotland) Ltd, and work is on schedule to finish in Autumn 2012. The company will also employ eight Clyde Gateway residents during the process.