Former Rialto cinema building in Lochee faces demolition

The derelict Rialto cinema in Gray’s Lane, Lochee, could soon be demolished to make way for 12 flats, if a planning application by Ramsay’s Properties is successful.

Site owner Ramsay McBain said: “I’m Lochee born and bred so it is good to do something for my home town, as it were.

“I remember when the Rialto was a bingo hall. It was a local institution.”

The demolition plan calls for the trees along the western boundary of the site to be retained, while those to the south will be removed and replaced by at least two new trees for each old one.

The Rialto Cinema opened in 1928 and was the first in the city to show “talkies”. It closed in 1962 and was converted to a bingo hall.

The building was given B-listed listed status in 1993, but many of its important architectural features were lost in a fire.