The best popcorn is Tesco Salted. I’ve dabbled in Propercorn and sampled the own-brand options from every major supermarket chain. Tesco is king. Dump some crispy M&Ms in there and you have got yourself the Greatest Snack Of All Time. Why am I telling you this? Because I’ve heard it’s going to be quite the show watching Vita Group’s demolition crew trying to tear down Charles J McNair’s landmark entrance portico to the O2 ABC.

The archive drawings are clear that the main structure around the entrance hall and stairways is solid masonry with concrete floors, a top conservation accredited engineer with knowledge of the site disclosed to me. They saw no reason why it could not be retained as part of the wider proposals for the clearance of the site and Vita Group’s new student accommodation plans.

The site is owned by OBARCS ABC Ltd, part of the property portfolio of Northern Ireland’s Rich Sauces bosses. They first sought to demolish the building in 2019 and it was dubbed “beyond repair” and “economically unsalvageable”. But the application was put on ice until it was supported by a proposal for a replacement building. English developer Vita Group got involved in 2023 with plans for purpose built student flats and a food hall.

Left open to the elements for six years, Glasgow City Council last week approved the demolition of the C-listed building after smacking it with a Dangerous Building Notice (DBN). Now legally it must come down. A few eyebrows have been raised as to how it came to this point. Conservationists still believe the arched portico, which was built as a standalone structure, can be saved. Both the local authority and Vita Group say they won’t know what can be retained until they get into the ABC with their hydraulic shears.

Sauchiehall Street's new look proposalSauchiehall Street's new look proposal (Image: Supplied)

Conservationists are fighting tooth and nail to have the arch of the O2 ABC retained “in situ” and scoff at Vita’s assurances they will keep the cast iron glazing screen by Walter Macfarlane & Co to decorate the inside of their planned food hall. I will note that the council staunchly disagrees that the arch can be saved and says the big issue is mangled steelwork connected to the portico which needs to be removed. The demolition consent includes a condition that the owners take “all reasonable steps to salvage materials from the demolished building for reuse, repurposing and recycling.” A spokesperson for Vita Group told me last week that their position on conserving the building's listed parts was made clear in the planning meeting on August 20.

The conservation expert I spoke to said they did not believe the DBN approved the total demolition of the structure, just the front part including the main entrance. “It is the fact that the DBN has been placed on clearing the front of the building, with no mention of trying to retain important historic features or how they would assess STOPPING the demolition at a sensible point,” they said. “They should be doing the minimum [demolition] required to make the building safe.”

The potential for the frontage should be exciting for any developer and architect worth their salt. Niall Murphy, director of the Glasgow City Heritage Trust, shared an elevation sketch of a proposal for the O2 ABC site on social media, incorporating the grand 1929 entrance. It looks great.

But why save the much-loved frontage of a Glasgow building when you can finally raze the site and put up an over-scaled, dull, drab, uninspired and soulless student block? Because Scotland is in its Philistine Era, that’s why.

It’s as if London and London-adjacent firms are the new planning authorities in Scottish cities. Look at the giant faecal emoji Jestico + Whiles dropped on Edinburgh’s skyline in 2021. Or more recently, the resurfaced plans to demolish the former Hillhead Baptist Church in Glasgow’s West End.

I used to live opposite that B-listed building. I loved it, even when the rats set off the alarm at ungodly hours. I spent a lot of time sitting by the window looking over it, wondering when the city would come fix it up. I feel sorry for folk who will have to look at the eyesore Wemyss Properties now plans to build on the site. The façade retention is no longer economically viable, they say. But hurrah – the firm can now build 32 flats instead of 29.

Now, the Philistine Era is not limited solely to architecture. This week, Scottish musicians from Paolo Nutini to Biffy Clyro signed an open letter to the First Minister condemning the decision to axe Creative Scotland’s open fund for individuals. The government said it was "unable to confirm the release of £6.6m in Grant-in-Aid budget in the current financial year". In its open letter, the Scottish Music Industry Association warned the move, along with the delayed reopening of other key programmes, has led to “the worst crisis that Scotland’s music and wider arts sector has ever faced”. It was only four months ago that the Glasgow literary festival Aye Write was cancelled due to a lack of funding.

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Students at Glasgow School of Art today will only ever know The Mack as a bird’s nest of scaffolding. They will only know the O2 ABC as a sad reminder that the city centre no longer has a big concert venue. And if they live in one of these purpose-built student halls, they will never know the joy of an HMO on West Princes Street crawling with mice. We are sending a message to younger generations that arts and culture mean nothing. Music, architecture, beauty, poetry, arts, literature – forget it.

If Vita Group wants to make good with the people of Glasgow, they should seriously reconsider their design proposals for 292 to 334 Sauchiehall Street or else be eternally associated with the decline of Glasgow’s curb appeal. “Oh Vita Group? Aren’t they those Philistine Era developers?” architecture students of the year 2125 will say.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to development in the city. Or to skyscrapers. Bring it on. My position is that developers should do everything in their power to protect a city’s built heritage and the local authority should be both enforcing and assisting with this. Design rules in Scottish cities are too easy for developers to circumnavigate. Standards for conservation areas are framed as guidance rather than strict legal requirements. The financial and political pressure to approve developments means local authorities are at the mercy of any developers who bat their eyelashes. And the more out-of-character buildings that infect a conservation area, the easier it is for successive developers to get away with it.

Now, if I was part of the Vita Group public relations team, I would be on the phone to the architects asking, how the heck can we save this arch in situ? We would finalise our gorgeous façade plans that would be in keeping with the landmark ABC cinema and ride up to Glasgow on our white horse from England to save the day.

But if they choose to ignore the wishes of Glaswegians, I’ll see you at the demolition derby. The correct way to eat popcorn is by stuffing consecutive fistfuls into your trap from the moment the bag is torn open to the moment you crack your molar on a rogue kernel. And the correct way to develop a conservation area is by protecting and respecting its historic architecture. Reject the Philistine Era, embrace tradition.

Marissa MacWhirter is the editor of The Glasgow Wrap. Each morning, Marissa curates the top local news stories from around the city, delivering them to your inbox at 7am daily so you can stay up to date on the best reporting without ads, clickbait or annoying digital clutter. Oh, and it’s free. She can be found on X @marissaamayy1