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G1 5HD - Glasgow

The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall on Glasgow鈥檚 Trongate is the world鈥檚 oldest surviving music hall.

During the First World War, audiences 1200 strong would cram into the Pantopicon to see one of its four daily shows. Here they would be entertained by a mixed programme of songs, newsreels and comedy films. Another key part of the shows was recruiting songs.

鈥淭hey were always recruitment drives in the music halls,鈥� explains Judith Bowers, director of the Britannia Panopticon. 鈥淭hey would use singers in sexy outfits to encourage and inspire the men to join up. They would sometimes even offer kisses in exchange for men recruiting.鈥�

鈥淢usic hall was hugely patriotic. Glasgow was proud to be the workshop of the world and they were proud to go over and fight. But it was adventure for them. Those boys didn鈥檛 have any idea what they were going into war to fight for.鈥�

鈥淭he audiences at the music halls did not have a reputation for being good 鈥� 鈥榥o turn unstoned鈥� sums it up,鈥� says Judith. 鈥淏ut when it came to anything patriotic or to do with the war they sat up and paid in attention. Ironically, that spelled the end of music hall itself 鈥� as the war progressed, people became hungry for news of their boys overseas. And by about 1916, music halls were advertising less and less and it was cinema coming through as the popular place of entertainment.鈥�

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