The County Cinema, 14 Bath Street, Portobello, Edinburgh

The County Cinema, located at 14 Bath Street in Portobello, Edinburgh, is a large, three-storey, rectangular purpose-built cinema dating from 1939. It was designed by architect Thomas Bowhill Gibson in an Art Deco/Moderne style. The building consists of a flat-roofed entrance section and a pitched and piended-roof auditorium.

The principal (southeast) elevation is symmetrical, with the central part projecting forward. It features rounded towers flanking seven slightly stepped vertical bands. Single-storey sections are set to either side, with full-height blank sections set back behind them. Wide granolithic steps lead to the main entrance, now sheltered by a later flat-roofed box canopy with small, curved sections on each side. The side and rear elevations are constructed of rendered brick, and the vertical structural steel frames are exposed. The rear elevation features three projecting, low-level boxed sections (horn chambers).

A low-level band of coloured render, originally over mosaic tiles, runs along the main elevation and small side returns; the towers are rendered on the hard. The remainder of the main elevation is clad in timber frame and sheet boards, dating to around 1974. The roof is pitched (piended to the rear) and covered in corrugated asbestos sheets.

The entrance vestibule features a coombed ceiling with a fluted frieze and a former ticket booth. Paired staircases with iron bannisters lead to the balcony. The main auditorium has been subdivided with a lowered suspended ceiling, now enclosing a ground floor bingo hall. Original decorative architectural details of the proscenium arch remain in the bingo hall, and much of the decoration survives above the suspended ceiling. This includes moulded and raised Art Deco/Moderne motifs around the screen, along with horizontal linear chevron details and circular niches. The balcony is intact, though the seats have been removed; openings from the projection room into the auditorium remain.

Investigative access holes were made in the surfaces of the interior decorative scheme after 2016.