From a Victorian picture house to one of the city centre’s busiest nightlife spots, this Sauchiehall Street venue entertained the people of Glasgow for well over a century.

Many of us have fond memories of heading here for our end-of-week going-out plans. With weekly club nights and regular gigs, the O2 ABC was the place to be for a night out.

Long before it began life as one of the best clubs in Glasgow, the building served several purposes over the years.

Glasgow Times:

Built and opening in 1875, the Diorama delivered an experience for viewers that is not unlike going to an IMAX theatre today, with detailed scenes and images projected onto its large circular dome ceiling. One of the most notable themes was the Battle of Bannockburn.

Just ten years later it was transformed into an indoor skating rink and then went on to become home to Hengler’s Circus. When circus events were not on show, the building served as a cinema, and into the 20th century, it was used as a dance hall.

The name ABC came along in 1929 when the dance hall was transformed into a proper cinema seating 2359 people, while still maintaining its original features from over 50 years previously. The dance floor was used for the stalls, and guests would enter using the twin staircase that always remained.

Glasgow Times:

For the next 70 years, the ABC would show the latest flicks from its two venues, ABC 1 and 2, the latter of which was built in the 1960s to accommodate more cinema-goers. It was also notably the first cinema in Scotland to open after the end of the Second World War.

The cinema closed in 1999, and it would not be for another six years that it found new life. Regular Music mogul David McBride saw an opportunity for a building of that size and historic value to transform it into a space for music.

It reopened in 2005 after a multi-million-pound investment and the Academy Music Group took over as the majority stakeholder in 2009, thus rebranding it the 02 ABC.

Glasgow Times:

Many of us remember piling out of a bar on Sauchiehall Street with our friends, finding a seller with tickets for Jellybaby Thursdays, Propaganda Fridays, or Love Music Saturdays – remember the names were displayed in huge letters like an old cinema? - and being all too happy to hand over a fiver.  

As well as regular club nights, the concert venue played host to the likes of Adele, Sum 41, Sam Smith, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, and Paolo Nutini to name a few.

Glasgow Times:

It came as a devastating shock when, in June 2018, the building was extensively damaged by a fire at the nearby Glasgow School of Art and forced out of use. 

What is your favourite memory of the O2 ABC?