Kirkcaldy’s Art Deco Heritage 5. Raith Cinema
Posted in Art Deco, Cinemas, Kirkcaldy at 12:41 on 19 July 2009
Proof that the word Raith has/had a wider use than just for the name of the local football team.
This was the Raith cinema and is now some sort of church. It’s situated in Links Street in what is known as Linktown, which maybe once was a separate entity from The Lang Toun but now there is no gap between them and it’s just another part of Kirkcaldy.
The curly flourishes on the entrance are about all that makes this Art Deco, but their Eastern influence is one of the hallmarks of Deco styling (cf the Hoover Factory and India of Inchinnan.) Those apart it’s a pretty bog standard barn of a cinema building.
I’ve no idea what it looks like inside or if there were any Art Deco detailings in the interior.
Do you suppose that when folk exited the cinema after watching a musical they were dancing in the streets of Raith?
See a similar photo at the Scottish cinemas website.
Curiously just along the same street from the former Raith there is another unusual religious building; for Scotland that is. A Coptic church. You can occasionally see the priest in Kirkcaldy High Street, in his full beard, ecclesiastical hat and black robes.
Tags: Art Deco, Cinemas, Coptic Church, Kirkcaldy, Rhema Church, Scotland
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jane ferguson
15 March 2012 at 18:37
i went to the raith ballroom every week it was the baest place to go for miles
jackdeighton
15 March 2012 at 20:20
Thanks for dropping in, Jane.
When was it a ballroom? During or after the cinema period?
Before I came to live in Kirkcaldy anyway.
Elizabeth
18 February 2018 at 10:07
Hello. Your photos show the old Burma dance hall, not the Raith. The Raith was on the Esplanade, demolished many years ago and now has a block of flats in its place.
Best regards, Elizabeth
jackdeighton
20 February 2018 at 22:42
Elizabeth,
Thanks for the information. Not being a Kirkcaldy native I wasn’t aware the Raith had been demolished. I was relying on the Scottish cinemas website (http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/scotland/kirkcaldy/raith.html) where it gives the building I showed as the Raith Cinema.
Thanks for looking in and commenting.
Jim
9 February 2019 at 10:43
The Raith Ballroom opened as a dance hall around 1963 after it was a cinema. It closed around 1974 when it lost its drinks licence. It became and still is the Rhema church located in Links Street. The Burma Ballroom (later known as Jackie O’s amongst other names) was located on the Esplanade and has been demolshed to make way for housing.
jackdeighton
9 February 2019 at 19:55
Jim,
Thanks for this. It’s always good to hear more of the history of the buildings I feature.
My knowledge of Kirkcaldy’s past is limited. I only moved there in the 1980s.
Thanks also for looking in and taking the time to comment.
Graham Scott
28 April 2023 at 19:43
The Raith hasn’t been knocked down. It was the Burma Ballroom on the Esplanade that got demolished. The Raith was/is on Links Street. It’s owned by a church group now. It hosted The Kinks, Gladys Knight,The Who, The Yardbirds,Edwyn Starr and many more in the 60’s.I don’t think it will have changes a great deal inside.
jackdeighton
30 April 2023 at 12:52
Graham,
Thanks for looking in and commenting.
I was recording the Raith as a piece of minor Art Deco and was aware it hadn’t been knocked down.
I don’t remember the Burma Ballroom as it was lost long before I moved to Kirkcaldy.
John Hayes
27 December 2024 at 17:44
Hello, I would like to correct a post by…Elizabeth
18 February 2018 at 10:07.
It was the Raith Ballroom who were situated on Links St. NOT the Burma…which was situated opposite the ‘out of town’ bus station on the esplanade.
jackdeighton
27 December 2024 at 19:46
John,
Thanks for this. I remember the bus station on the prom but the ballrooms were a bit before my time.