Aberdeen's Belmont Cinema harnesses nostalgia for its revival

“Nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent.”

This line from Mad Men came to mind as I sat in the Douglas Hotel at the weekend to view a presentation on the revival of Aberdeen’s Belmont Cinema.

I felt like one of those 1950s Kodak executives, watching advertising genius Don Draper show his old family photographs on the ‘carousel’ slideshow machine.

I sat bewitched as slide after slide took me back in time, recalling Don’s words that nostalgia was a “twinge in your heart, more powerful than memory alone”.

A visualisation of how the basement of The Belmont Cinema could look. Image: Tinto Architecture.

Aberdeen’s Belmont Cinema launches crowdfunder

It’s exciting stuff and I was straight on the moby to donate to the Belmont crowdfunder and post a list on its Facebook page of films I want to see once it returns.

Casablanca, Cinema Paradiso, Now Voyager, Taylor Swift The Eras Tour… I can’t wait.

Don said of the carousel: “This device isn’t a space ship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. Takes us to a place where we ache to go again.”

He could have been talking about cinema.

A visualisation of the lobby and box office at the Belmont Cinema. Image: Tinto Architecture.

There is nothing in this world quite like watching a moving picture on a huge screen in the dark.

I assumed we’d never go to the pictures again when we bought a video player for Lady Di’s wedding in 1981 but I was wrong.

Streaming is great (it gave us Mad Men) but vegging on the sofa with a mug of tea and a Milky Way is no match for the romance of the flicks.

How the box office could look, with its stylish, retro vibe. Image: Tinto Architecture.

Affection and support for Aberdeen’s Belmont Cinema

I’ve been to all the meetings to revive The Belmont, including the first in Krakatoa around 48 hours after the closure was announced in October 2022.

There, the mood was of defiance and disappointment.

Amid tears, anger and disbelief, people shared their Belmont memories and some visionary souls explored ideas about what could be done.

This isn’t over, I thought.

Clever branding and a beautiful interior

Almost 21 months on, nothing could keep me from the latest meeting at the Douglas Hotel, although the bus gates did their best.

Now the mood has shifted to confidence and excitement.

And so it should. The new branding was revealed along with visualisations of the refurbished interior.

The aesthetic harks back to the golden age of cinema, when Netflix sounded like a fishing term and tickets were handed to an usher with a clipper.

Members of The Belmont Cinema team, from left, Jacob Campbell, Catriona Tanner, James Erwin, Murray Dawson, Dallas King. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

I can already smell the popcorn. What’s different about this iteration of The Belmont is that the concept goes beyond watching movies.

This is a dazzling cinema hub, a celebration of the moving image, with workshops, events, food, drink and entertainment in glorious technicolour.

It’s gone from victim to hero in its own story. Now it sounds less like something that needs saving and more like something that could do the saving, as far as reviving the city centre is concerned.

How the rather glamorous popcorn stand would look. Image: Tinto Architecture.

Cinema could help boost the city centre as a whole

Tinto Architecture, SHMU and Studio 42 are on board with the Belmont campaign, creating a vision that is both achingly vintage and startlingly fresh.

They have hit on something deeper here, something that could fly beyond The Belmont, out into Union Street and the wider city centre.

There’s a reason why we demolished St Nicholas House 10 years ago and when the cruise ship tourists arrive, we pack them on to coaches and off to Old Aberdeen.

Cruise ship visitors outside the St Machar Bar in the quaint cobbled streets of Old Aberdeen. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson.

And I say this as a fan of modern architecture and an admirer of St Nicholas House designer George Keith.

What has taken its place should not be viewed as a building, but more an architectural promenade where sights are concealed and then revealed for our delight.

You walk through the gaping grey archway from Upperkirkgate and you are greeted by the wonderful leopard sculpture.

You continue past the glazing, steel and concrete and you arrive at the 16th Century Provost Skene’s House.