THE “For Sale” notice in the stained-glass window of Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre is about to come down.

The Grade-1 listed theatre on Renfield Street is set for takeover by major UK theatre group Trafalgar Entertainment.

And the news will end months of speculation about the future of the 119-year-old theatre, dubbed Scotland’s Home of Variety.

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In September of last year, plans were made to sell the theatre to city rivals the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) for £3.9 million. However, ATG chose not to go ahead.

It was revealed soon after that company had embarked upon the acquisition of a number of American theatres.

In the wake of ATG’s stepping back, there were serious concerns for the future of the 1,400-seat Glasgow theatre when manager Iain Gordon announced his departure.

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Mr Gordon not only maintained the theatre, he wrote, directed, produced or commissioned the majority of the shows staged.

Since that time there has been talk of a Glasgow-based business consortium buying over the Pavilion, which is owned by Tim and Nick Martin, but nothing came to pass.

The Glasgow theatre, however, is regarded as a sound business opportunity.

It has been extensively refurbished and features state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment. It has cash assets of more than £2m and its panto turnover alone is always in excess of £1m.

The Pavilion also boasts an entertainment legacy stretching back to the era of Harry Lauder and Charlie Chaplin and has played host to the likes of comedy legend Sir Billy Connolly, pop group Wet Wet Wet and panto stars The Krankies.

The arrival onto the scene by Trafalgar Entertainment is not entirely unexpected. Trafalgar Entertainment is the second-largest theatre operator in the UK, and runs the Trafalgar and Olympia theatres in London, as well as 12 regional theatres.

The move heralds a new chapter in the life of the Pavilion; the theatre, which began life as a music hall, was flooded in the early 1990s when a water tank burst.

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Since first opening, the Boasting state-of-the-art equipment, a Louis XV-style interior design and an entertainment legacy stretching back to Lauder and Chaplin, the Pavilion and its Louis XV-style interior design, have been at the heart for Glasgow’s entertainment life for decades.

The theatre has survived the privations of two world wars and The Krankies’ beanstalk disaster, when diminutive star Janette Tough fell from a high-lift platform and was badly injured.

It was reborn in the 1980s after former employee George Martin took his redundancy money and hired Iain Gordon to run the operation.

Since that time, it has had to endure a major refit as a result of a devastating fire in nearby Victoria’s nightclub.

But over the years it has managed to showcase and develop iconic performers, acts with shows that ran for years, from comedy legend Lex McLean to hypnotist Robert Halpern and, in more recent years, Mrs Brown star Brendan O’Carroll.

It is one of the only non-subsidised major commercial theatres in Scotland and has had to battle for audiences, continually coming up with new comedy streams, such as Des Dillons’ Singing I’m No’ A Billy and James Barclay’s Paras Over the Barras.

Irreverent stand-up stars such as Ricky Gervais have followed in the footsteps of Sir Billy as well as a range of comics performers, from Jim Davidson to Julian Clary.

Scottish acts such as the pop band Wet Wet Wet, in the early stage of their career, played the Pavilion, not to mention the Singing Kettle and Sydney Devine, which allowed provided offering Iain Gordon with the opportunity to self-proclaim the Pavilion to be “The Scottish National Theatre of Variety Theatre”.

A theatre insider noted: “Whoever buys the Pavilion buys into a piece of Scottish theatre history.

“The Pavilion has an incredible reputation for fun.

“It will be fascinating to see what its future entails.”

Trafalgar Entertainment was set up in 2017 by Sir Howard Panter, a prominent theatre owner and producer and one of the key figures in the arts and entertainment industry with over 40 years’ experience.

H e set up the firm with his wife Dame Rosemary Squire, who founded the Ambassador Theatre Group, which also owns the King’s and Theatre Royal in Glasgow and the Playhouse in Edinburgh.

If Trafalgar Entertainment completes the purchase of the Pavilion it will be its 13th venue and bring it into a stable which includes the Theatre Royal in Sydney, Australia.

Trafalgar Entertainment declined to comment.