Cinemas and Entertainment

Odeon (Shakespeare Street)
The main cinema in the town is in Shakespeare Street. This building was originally the Regal and opened in 1932. It was originally designed to seat up to 1700. It has changed names several times and also known as the ABC. Most recently it changed it's name to Odeon in 2001.

Whilst the ABC it hosted the ABC Minors which was attended my many local children on Saturday mornings.

In 1972 the cinema was split into two and the building has since contained the main bingo hall in Dumfries.

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre
The RBC Film Theatre is housed in the old Maxwelltown Mill sat right on the edge of the Nith. It reopened first in 1986 as a museum of the life of Robert Burns in Dumfries and the addition of the Film Theatre one year later completed the building as it is now. It seats 69 and in the last 2 years has been upgraded to Digital cinema technology, with the occasional use of the 35mm for classic works, it is open 5 days a week Tuesday to Saturday with occasional additional extra screenings.

Since the closure of the mill as a working resource the building itself sat vacant for a long time, prior to the council letting the property from the Common Good Fund the Electricity Board used the space for storage purposes, which is likely to have kept it watertight and in decent shape at that time.

The Lyceum (High Street)
This was another large cinema in Dumfries. Designed to seat 2000 it was built on the site of the Old Lyceum Theatre near the bottom of the High Street. It was opened on the 4 October 1936 and cost £25,000. The rear of the building was very tall and is visible in many older photographs. It closed in late 1969. The Lyceum and other nearby buildings were demolished to make way for a new supermarket in early 1970. The site is currently occupied by the Loreburne Centre.

The Electric Theatre (Shakespeare Street)
This cinema was formally a Theatre built in 1792. It was converted to a cinema in the 1920s. It returned to being the Theatre Royal in 1959 and is now the oldest working theatre in Scotland.

Other Cinemas
At the height of film's popularity in the early to mid twentieth century several other buildings were used as cinemas noteably the Mechanics Institute in Nith Place.