Bo’ness Hippodrome

In our opinion as young people from Bo’ness, we believe the Hippodrome cinema is a massive part of the Bo’ness town identity.  It feels as though its almost been there forever and its actually the oldest surviving cinema in Scotland. The Hippodrome plays a major part in the history of Bo’ness, in fact the Hippodrome opened its doors to everyone in 1912. The design of the cinema was created by the local architect Matthew Steele and it’s a rare example of pre-art deco cinema architecture. Interestingly, even though the town is not that well known, celebrities have actually visited and filmed there such as David Tennant (better known as Doctor Who) and Michael Sheen who filmed his well known series ‘Good Omens.’   The layout of the building is more suited to a circus or even theatre but the plans from 1911 show it was titled ‘picture palace’- meaning it was clearly meant to be cinema from the very start of construction.