Palladium Theatre, Edinburgh

The Palladium Theatre stood in Edinburgh’s East Fountainbridge, a brick building first opened in 1886 as the Royal Circus. John Henry Cooke designed the round structure, which later became a cinema in 1911 after a rebuild. It closed as a cinema in 1932 and reopened as a theatre under Millicent Ward’s company. John Le Mesurier made his stage debut there during this period. Stars such as Lex McLean and Donald Peers performed on its stage in the 1930s. By the 1950s the theatre hosted early Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows before closing in 1966. It then became a bingo hall, then a nightclub called the White Elephant in the late 1960s. The name changed to Valentino’s in the 1970s, and bands like Slade and U2 played there. It briefly operated as The Muscular Arms before demolition in 1984. The site now holds government offices, but the theatre’s past remains part of local memory. Its stage once welcomed variety acts and rising comedians. The building itself was a round brick structure, distinctive in its time. Though gone, the stories of performances and audiences linger in the area’s history.