Writer Oscar Wilkie ruminates on the end of an era as the world’s tallest cinema closes after 20 years.

On 28 September 2025, Cineworld Renfrew Street, in the heart of Glasgow’s City Centre, closed its doors. It has been a part of the city centre’s fabric since 2005, when Cineworld took over the cinema, and as you walked down Sauchiehall Street, looking up to your left, the iconic building and its Cineworld sign loomed over the street below. It closed as the building’s owners decided to take it back from Cineworld, and such closure is deeply sad for Glaswegian film fans as it was one of the central cinemas in Glasgow. Boasting 18 screens, it often had a wider variety of films compared to other cinemas. The closure of Cineworld will be the loss of something that has been part of Glasgow’s city centre for years, and its closure will be deeply felt by both film fans and Glaswegians.

Without sounding too much like a celebrant at a funeral, whilst it is sad that our time with Cineworld Renfrew Street is ending, it seems a valid time to stop and reflect on all the good memories it has given us. When I was younger, I loved going to the movies (and still do), and I would always go to Cineworld whenever I was in Glasgow City Centre. The sheer size and height of it always made going there feel like an event. My strongest memory of going there is on Boxing Day 2013, when my dad took me to see the Keanu Reeves film, 47 Ronin (2013). We got there and discovered our screening was all the way up on the top floor, so we took the escalators, which clung to the left side of the building. Thanks to the huge glass panels, you had an incredible view of the city, especially the higher you went. It was to my surprise that as we got closer to the top, the crane I had been watching poke out of the mist as we ascended was suddenly below us, which was awe-inspiring and terrifying, especially for someone afraid of heights. What didn’t help was that it was so windy that as we sat down for our movie, I could feel the building swaying. Honestly, it probably wasn’t, but as a young kid, it sure felt like that. 

Another fond memory I have is of going to see the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who (1963-), which was screened in Renfrew Street live in sync with the television broadcast. As a huge Doctor Who fan, I remember anxiously watching my Dad book the tickets before heading into Glasgow to see it. As I ascended the escalators, I saw people dressed up in a multitude of Doctor Who references (such as an abundance of colourful scarves and brown coats). The joy of getting to see it not in my living room, but in a packed screening full of die-hard fans, is something I won’t forget. 

A third core memory entailed going to Renfrew Street many times with my sister. She doesn’t live in Glasgow and so we don’t see each other a lot, but as I got older, we would meet in the city centre and go to Cineworld to see films together. One Saturday morning in 2018, she asked if I wanted to see a double bill, so we first went to see the excellent comedy film, Game Night (2018), and then she let me pick our next feature. I, for some reason, chose the Woody Allen film, Wonder Wheel (2017). Starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake, it was one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. It was just so shockingly boring to the point my sister looked at me and we burst out laughing. 

A final specific memory I have is of taking my mum to see Last Night In Soho (2021) in November 2021, after having already seen and loved it myself. What was special about it was that before our screening, I took my driving theory test in the city centre and passed. Coming out beaming, it made the day even greater, and the screening in Renfrew Street felt like the perfect treat for passing. It was the first film I’d seen with my mum since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and I remember watching her just as much as the film because I was convinced that she was going to love it. All of this is to say that as a film fan, the sad thing about Cineworld Renfrew Street closing is that you’re not just losing a place to go to the movies, you’re losing the place where so many nice memories took place. It’s a place which felt so grandiose to me as a kid, and as I grew up, it got to the point where I would walk in and see a normal building, and now I won’t be walking into it anymore. Looking back over all my movie tickets that I’ve kept since I was ten, it’s striking the variety in the number of films I saw at Renfrew Street. From great films like A Star is Born (2018) & Poor Things (2023), to the bad, like The Forgiven (2021), and I even got to see some classics there, such as Titanic (1997) and Jaws (1975), both in 3D. Lastly, I just want to say that as one of the main cinemas in Glasgow, Cineworld Renfrew Street’s closure is deeply sad. For film fans, it was a place of escapism, often from the bleak weather outside. It was welcoming, and it felt like a home away from home. I want to genuinely thank the staff for running it. It was always such a magical place, full of noise and confectionery. It will be sincerely missed.

Image Credit: The Sun