#tollcross

On May 28th 1905 construction of the King's Theatre in Edinburgh commences.

Of all the theatres I have been at in Scotland The Kings is my favourite, the Miners club at my hometown of Loanhead used to run a bus every year for the members bairns to see the Panto at the Kings and later in my life I spent many years living around the Tollcross are where the Kings is situated, it is only a short walk from my flat now, and my local watering hole is called The Kings Arms as a nod to the place, maybe I'm a bit biased with having all this history on my doorstep- our pub quz even had a question about the theatre a couple of weeks back!

Enough of my memories The Kings was built by the Edinburgh firm of William Stewart Cruikshank, the philanthropist and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie laid the foundation stone and the Theatre was opened in 1906 with a performance of Cinderella and managed by A Stewart Cruikshank, he was actually the son of the builder apparently the original owners who contacted the work ran out of monay halfway through the project and some deal was done that included the Cruikshanks taking over ownership as the "King's Theatre (Edinburgh) Ltd" It was designed by the architect J D Swanston who previously designed The Kings Theatre in Kirkcaldy,he drew up the plans very similar to the Fife Theatre on a more grand scale.

The Theatre originally had Stalls and three circles - Dress, Family and Gallery, part of the Gallery was for standing guests! The Gallery was uncomfortable and latterly unsafe and was removed in the fifties reducing the Theatre to three levels with additional seating at the back of what is now called the Upper Circle. The present seating capacity is 1350.

After A Stewart Cruikshank retired, his son Stewart inherited the company and in 1969 sold the Theatre to Edinburgh Council, who still run it.

The interior decor is very ornate with nine boxes either side of the proscenium and there are fine examples of Edwardian stained glass in the foyer doors. The present Upper Circle bar area was originally a Billiard Room and there were shops either side of the entrance at street level. A major refurbishment was undertaken in the mid 1980s when new seating was installed at every level.

The King’s Theatre was built as a variety theatre and has a long tradition of pantomime with such stars as Stanley Baxter, Rikki Fulton and Jimmy Logan. There is also a long tradition of amateur operatic and musical work in Edinburgh which for some years now has taken place at the King’s Theatre.

Using my local knowledge a little known fact about the Kings is that a burn runs underneath the King’s Theatre. Known as the Lochrin (after which buildings and streets in Tollcross are named), the stream once fed the brewery that existed on the site where the theatre now stands.

And another is that local lad Sean Connery used to work backstage at the King's Theatre. In 1951 Sean (then known as Tam) worked as a stage hand and this is where his interest in the acting profession began. He auditioned for a production of South Pacific and, now calling himself Sean, landed a small part - and the rest is history.

The theatre is due to close its doors in the next year or so, but do not fear it is because it is getting a major 20 million pound refurbishment, initial designs for the 113-year-old, A-listed building include removing 200 seats, from 1,300 down to 1,100, to provide more hospitality.

A fundraising campaign, launched in 2019 by actor patron Brian Cox, promised to deliver a modernised, more sustainable theatre by 2023, unfortunately there was a major funding gap and then the pandemic happened, Work is ongoing at The Kings after the Scottish Government agreed to put an extra £3.85 million into a long-awaited refurbishment, there have been stumbling blocks, In January the destruction of one of its bars was refused by the council over concerns about the impact on the building’s “cultural significance”. A fortnight ago it was reported that there has been another set back, with the project’s cost rising by a further £2.3 million. It brings the total cost of the redevelopment to £37.9 million.

The major renovation, which was originally planned to begin in 2021 and cost £25 million, was delayed first by the Covid-19 pandemic and then by the £8.9 million funding gap I mentioned earlier.

Work continues on the restoration, meanwhile in December 2024 a visitor discovered a bottle hidden with a note inside. Theatre bosses were unable to open the bottle after it was found on 6 December so it was sent to specialists who carefully cut the top off. Inside was a note which had become glued together with age, so experts used special techniques and chemicals to prise it apart.

The top name on the list was prominent Edinburgh builder William Stewart Cruickshank, who was 50 when he embarked on the King's Theatre project. Next on the list is the theatre's head architect, John Daniel Swanston, who was born in Dundee in 1868 and educated at Dollar Academy.

Extra details found by Findmypast about the men have been handed over to the theatre.

Curators will use the extensive research to make a display in a new exhibition room in the theatre, along with the bottle and note.

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