SCHOOLDAYS IN FOCUS
Hard Rock cafe comes to city centre
One of the most famous cafes in the world was set to open in Glasgow.
Bosses of the Hard Rock Cafe announced plans to convert the A-listed former Athenaeum Theatre in Buchanan Street into the chain’s latest outlet. Famous fans of the cafe include singer and X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger and Yoko Ono.
It originally sat next to the Forever 21 clothing store, which was part of the newly-opened shopping complex at the top of Buchanan Street in the city centre.
Hard Rock Cafe (UK) Ltd also wanted to carry out internal and external alterations to the former theatre and to install display signs.
The cafe was the second to be built in Scotland, second to Edinburgh.
The Athenaeum Theatre was opened in 1893 to “provide a source of mental cultivation, moral improvement and delightful recreation to all classes”.
Its school of music developed into the Scottish National Academy Of Music in 1929, later becoming the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music & Drama.
During the 1940s the theatre provided the initial home for the Citizens Theatre.
The Scottish Youth Theatre used the Athenaeum from 1989 until 1998, when the building was sold.
It was sold again in 2005, to a proper developer, and had been subject of several planning applications for conversion to retail use.