TO disinterested motorists trundling past on the overhead motorway, it is an undistinguished building. To historians charting Glasgow’s past it is the scene of a shooting whose victim is still revered by thousands of people today.

It is difficult to even pinpoint what area it is in. To some it is Cowcaddens, because the Subway station of that ilk is just yards away through an underpass. Others will say it is Garnethill, where the hill encompassing the Art School and St Aloysius slopes down to a hodge-podge of perjink new flats, stranded statuesque granite buildings, and an oriental gate proclaiming China Town, although it lacks the vibrancy of say, the Chinatown in San Francisco.

Cowcaddens, abutting the city centre, is out if sight, out of mind, to most folk. Once an area of high density housing, it has been cleared of the worst slums, but without much thought to what replaced it. As former cafe owner Joe Pieri wrote in his history of the area’s characters, Tales Of The Savoy: “Cowcaddens was different from other Glasgow slum areas in that it lay side by side with the glamorous city centre. For those living in Cowcaddens, to cross Renfrew Street into Sauchiehall Street was to enter another world. Left behind were the dark and forbidding tenements, cramped back yards and overflowing middens, and to walk along Sauchiehall Street was to see and taste a world of wealth and gracious living which was in stark contrast to their daily reality.”

Heading north from Cowcaddens, the area is choked off by a bewildering array of underpasses and overheard motorways that could easily be a scene where a Chicago crime drama is filmed, although it is not in fact in any way menacing. It’s actually too boring, one feels, to attract the wrong elements.

And in that small area with the grandiose China Town entrance, is a vast disused snooker hall, Reardon’s, on New City Road, where the tables have gone but the window posters of cues and snooker balls are still flaunted.

Behind that worn facade however, a vibrant new life is emerging from the snooker chrysalis. It has become the Joytown Grand Electric Theatre. In truth, it will revert to that grandiose title as this little unforgotten patch of Glasgow has a rich, teeming past, including that shooting I mentioned.

You see, the New City Road building was arguably Scotland’s first major zoo, when showmen Edward Henry Bostock and George Wombwell opened the large arena over 100 years ago after deciding Glasgow could support a permanent home instead of constantly being on the road with their menagerie.

Ever the showmen, they even allowed a couple to get married in the lions’ cage while the lions were inside, which attracted a crowd of thousands who perhaps were hoping for a far bloodier wedding than normal.

A star attraction was the Asian elephant Sir Roger, a gentle big soul until he turned 27 in 1900 and developed musth – a dangerous condition of vastly increased testosterone amongst old bull elephants that made him so aggressive he broke the arm and several ribs of his keeper.

No one would go in and clean him out, although food was thrown in at him, and the smell and accumulating dung became offensive.

The decision was taken to bring a squad of soldiers to the zoo who regretfully shot Sir Roger in a volley of fire. The execution was reported around the world, even in New Zealand. His carcass was taken to a Sauchiehall Street taxidermy firm, whose staff worked on his skeleton and hide until they had a stuffed Sir Roger, who was donated to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, where he has been a star attraction ever since. Even getting him out the shop after completion involved removing the shop-front.

EH Bostock, who also became the MP for Cowcaddens, added the showing of films to the zoo complex and renamed it the Zoo Electric Theatre in 1911, and shortly afterwards, as the animal element became less important, it became the Joytown Grand Electric Theatre, with the name falling out of use when it became temporary barracks for troops during the First World War.

Other uses include a roller-skating rink and a bus garage, before the snooker hall moved in with a Chinese restaurant and supermarket on the floor below.

Now DJ Chris Dolan and business partner Paul Sweeney are bringing the joy back to this part of town by reopening it with live music, club nights, comedy and art exhibitions. They will also link the venue to events in the city such as the Film Festival and Celtic Connections where peripheral events can take place.

Says Chris: “Paul noticed it lying empty and spoke to a guy in the car park who turned out to be the owner. I guess we saw in it the potential to be so much more.

“Cowcaddens is a forgotten area past the border of the city centre. If we can put it back on people’s radar, it would be nice.”

Work carried out on the Joytown Grand Electric Theatre so far has included sound-proofing, so as not to inconvenience neighbours, while leaving the rough-and-ready look. Although the area is overlooked, it is only two minutes from the Subway.

With the art college just up the hill, there is a ready audience of the artistic and musically minded. Says Chris: “The space has already seen gigs by Alabama 3, as well as Glasgow up-and-comers Mickey 9s and Crash Club. With surprise guests Bez of the Happy Mondays and rising local star Gerry Cinnamon both having dropped by to check the place out.”

I have no idea what he’s talking about but it seems that the old circus is doing what it originally set out to do – entertain people. I’m sure even old Sir Roger would be pleased to see it come back to life.