AGENDA
NEWS
Clubbers feared at risk from overcrowding
GLASGOW NIGHTCLUBS COULD be risking the lives of their customers as well as their licences, if guidelines on fire are being ignored, according to the chairman of the city's licensing board.
C0uncillor Jim Coleman spoke out after two clubs were reported to the procmator fiscal and to the licensing board for allegedly breaching the capacities laid dcwn in their licences. The clubs can not be named fpr legal reasons.
’If that proves to be the case, they are putting the public’s lives at risk for profits,’ he said. ’We are not going to wait until we have a disaster on our hands.’
Regulations on safe capacity are agreed With the operator when a licence is issued, he pomted out. Fire
Developers exploit Scots cinema scope
THE SCOTTISH ClllElle exploSion continues this Iliullill, with the opening Of two new multiplexes Ill Edinburgh and Aberdeen and the announcement of plans for another four across the COuntry.
The opening or the ABC Wester Hailes on 17 July, coincides \‘.'llll the opening of a nirici~screen \i'rrgin cinema in Aberdeen the first in the north-east of Scotland
Warner Village Cinemas have also revealed net: rtlans for multiplexes in Edinburgh, Glasgow, ln.erness and Aberdeen
Between them they will proVide an additional 49 st :c-crns at a cost of about £40 TTlllll(;ll Warner ‘.'iIlage Cinemas, a jOlllI venture ‘~.‘.’arner Bros International Theatres and the Australianbased Village Roadshow Ir‘iterriatiiinil, clitnis this is Just the 'first phase' of its expansion programme in Scotland
The Ediiil,iirgli cziieriia will have fifteen screens as part of a larger site at Greensiile Place The development wrll be alongside the now ubiguitoiis night- club, pub, cafe and ten-pin bowling developiizents
Let‘s. een
ln Glasgow a siinilai (li“.’(’lt)l)lll(7fli between Stocl:‘.‘.ell Street and Osborne Street at S: Liv screen
,: ll ‘.‘.ill lltl'l‘,“ .l l'.".‘t.’lll‘/' ."arric-r '.'illage Cirieiiia, as well restaurants, health and fitness facilities and a virtual reality garnes centre
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‘;",tti:.l: riici‘xie-goers are
entl'iiSIastii enough to support such a wealth of uc-iiues reriiains' to be seen
The ' December l998 in Edinburgh and March
cinemas will not open until
1999 in Glasgow lStephen l-laysriiithl 4 THEUST II 24 Jul 199/
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officers calculate the limit using factors such as the floor space and the size and number of doors.
'The idea was to stop what happened in some of those Far Eastern discos,’ Coleman added. ’Any breach will be taken very seriously indeed'
However, the reaction from insiders on the club scene was that the two clubs involved were the unlucky ones who were caught at what is in fact a Widespread practise.
A staff member at one large Glasgow venue, who declined to be named, said: 'Most city centre clubs are absolutely stowed Out. Some are offensively bad. That is common knowledge on the scene and those of us who stick to the rules JUSI feel they had it coming to them '
Clubs warning: Councillor Jim Coleman
However, another commented: ’Basically you have a fire capacity and that is very much your bottom line — any less than that and the place looks empty. I used to work in a club which regularly admitted double its capacity.’
A spokesman for Strathclyde Fire Brigade said it was concerned about abuse of licences. 'The means of escape are regulated for those numbers and anything over that is unsafe. Licensees should realise that the consequences could be disastrous.‘
He said abuse of the rules may well be widespread. ‘It would not surprise me if that were the case. The numbers the two clubs concerned were caught with certainly imply a complete disregard for the limits.’
(Stephen Naysmith)
Court swayed by evidence of bodies
NO COURT ACTION Will be taken
over the unuscial view from Glasgow’s brand new £28 million High Court complex, which is
(3(lij9lli to the City mortuary.
Visitors to the court, which opened this week, were reportedly shocked at the sight of bodies being carried into the neighbouring building, whose rear entrance is in plain vrew from the court’s first floor.
The new High Court at Saltmarket opposite Glasgow Green, adioms the original High COurt building and is
i one of the most secure in the world.
However, the Scottish Office said the fact it overlooks the mortuary
was unavOidable, while insisting that
it has no impact on the work of the building.
THE IRREVERENT IMAGE of the Duke of \"Vellington with a traffic cone on his head is being used to promote a £400,000 celebration of Glasgow next month,
The event, on Sunday 31 August, ‘.'/lll coincide With the end of the Edinburgh Festival and demonstrate that there is life at the other end of the MB, according to the organisers
Funded by Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STIJC), ’Pure Glasgov.” is part of the city's contribution to the lOOth anniversary celebrations of the STUC
Pete lrvrne, director of event organisers UZ, said a spectacular parade through the streets would culriiinate on Glasgow Green in a free progr’ariirne of live music, parties, and theatre and a theatrical fireworks finale
IiVine told The List ’Ever'yone \‘Jlll have red flags the parade Will be like a red tide flowrng through the city,
’This is a celebration of Glasgow and its people,’ he said, adding ’lt coincides With the Edinburgh Festival,
’There are no offices in the new High Court, whether public or private, where you get a vrew of the morgue,’ said a spokesman. ’Any impression that Jurors are gorng to be distracted or appalled during cases is unfounded.
He added: ’However there are two inescapable facts. The burlding is situated next to the crty morgue, and the building needs light '
Hence, the wrndow overlooking the mortuary. However no one is forced to watch, the spokesman noted, and dismissed fears that youngsters or voyeurs wOuId prove to be a problem ’This is a busy working envrronment I don’t think a bunch of kids would be tolerated coming into the High Court for a ghoulish way of
passing the summer holidays.’
Further problems were raised during the courts’ first few days of operation, with the amplification system in one courtroom not functioning, design errors preventing the installation of ceremonial maces in two others and a prisoner's case delayed because officials couldn’t find a key to unlock the door leading to the dock.
’There is obvrously a settling in period, and these teething problems will be addressed as a matter of urgency,’ the Scottish Office spokesman explained. ’The official Opening Will not be until 1998, preCIser because we expect to have to iron out such early problems.’ (Stephen Naysmith)
which is important. Some people might think Scotland's Culture is all on the east coast, but we want to show that Glasgow/s people are always up for it.’
Forty Scottish artists have collaborated wrth local industries to create seven large sculptures -- each the size of a double decker bus — representing seven major industrial sectors of Glasgow’s past, present or future
These .‘.’|ll be transported through the streets to Glasgow Green, where a programme combining celtic, rock and world music wrll occupy two stages.
A spokeswoman for Pure Glasgow denied that council cutbacks and sleaze allegations had left Glaswegians ill-prepared for celebrating their City ’The parade Will he masSive and 5000 people are going to be involved. It is very much about havrng fun,’ she said
Hence the posters of the City's long- suffering statue, she explained. ’Come Monday morning, a cone is always back on that statue, whether the crty fathers like it or not.’ (Phil Miller)
'Come Saturday morning, a cone is always on that statue. whether the city fathers like it or not': Glasgow's crowning glory. situated outside the controversial Gallery of Modern Art