So what do you do when you have a shagged knee that is keeping you out of action. Yeah I know you go to the derpiest deathtrap derp around. Ideal.
So after kind of getting cabin fever being stuck in the house of an evening and even opting to do all of the house work in the morning I knew something wasn’t right and I needed to get out of the house.
A quite local one, that’s been on my list since I saw Speeds report on the place nearly 10 years ago. I thought yeah I should probably go and check it out seeing as it was fucked back then.
Anyway knowing it was a bit dodgy and me having a gammy leg I thought I best take a mate along just incase I got cocky and fucked up. So I picked my mate up and we headed off to the theatre. Access was rather easy not as easy as I’d imagined having seen previous reports on the place, but easy nether the less.
It’s totally fucked, the stage (well the hole where the stage used to be) has been blocked up. The roof is non existent, any bit of timber in the place is soggy and as rotten as a pear. If it isn’t damp it’s full of fry rot and the floor just disintegrates beneath your feet. So Sticking to the brick and stone staircases was the name of the day.
As fucked as it is, it’s still an old theatre. It still has something about it (to me atleast) and there are a few old features about if you look for them.
And yep, it has been covered plenty of times before but here’s a recent update on the sorry state it is in.
So after kind of getting cabin fever being stuck in the house of an evening and even opting to do all of the house work in the morning I knew something wasn’t right and I needed to get out of the house.
A quite local one, that’s been on my list since I saw Speeds report on the place nearly 10 years ago. I thought yeah I should probably go and check it out seeing as it was fucked back then.
Anyway knowing it was a bit dodgy and me having a gammy leg I thought I best take a mate along just incase I got cocky and fucked up. So I picked my mate up and we headed off to the theatre. Access was rather easy not as easy as I’d imagined having seen previous reports on the place, but easy nether the less.
It’s totally fucked, the stage (well the hole where the stage used to be) has been blocked up. The roof is non existent, any bit of timber in the place is soggy and as rotten as a pear. If it isn’t damp it’s full of fry rot and the floor just disintegrates beneath your feet. So Sticking to the brick and stone staircases was the name of the day.
As fucked as it is, it’s still an old theatre. It still has something about it (to me atleast) and there are a few old features about if you look for them.
And yep, it has been covered plenty of times before but here’s a recent update on the sorry state it is in.
History
Designed by local architects Campbell & Horsley, the theatre was originally called the Lyceum Theatre and was opened on Thursday, February 23, 1899. It is located on Church Street at the corner of Mather Road.
The auditorium has three tiers supported by four columns. The fire curtain was embossed with the Bourough of Eccles Heraldic emblem.
The proscenium surround is decorated to represent Shakespeare’s "Seven Ages of Man" The frontage is quite ornamental in Accrington brick and terracotta.
In March 1899, the Eccles public were treated to a ten minute bioscope presentation, "The Spanish Bull Fight". Originally, the theatre’s owners intended a more cultural entertainment of Shakespeare and operettas, however by 1900 the theatre began to put on variety and novelty acts.
In 1907, the theatre changed ownership to Broadhead’s Theatres chain and was renamed the Crown Theatre. In 1932 the Crown Theatre became a cinema, just in time for the "talkies" By 1937 it had become part of the H.D. Moorhouse Circuit.
In 1955, the Crown Theatre became part of the Snape Circuit and continued showing films until 1963 when it became the inevitable bingo house.
By the late 1980s it was reported to be falling into disrepair internally and the theatre closed. The exterior is largely intact, apart from the stage house which has been partly demolished. Planning permission was given in 2005 – and again in 2008 – for partial demolition (retaining the facade) and development of apartments behind. These works have not been started, and the building remains empty and increasingly derelict.
There is a current campaign to save the theatre.
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=2851
Pics
So this is what it looks like today
This looks like it was taken in the 60’s going off the Anglia.
So the first stop was to get up as high as I could. Which was to this room. Where the floor was kippered.
Which was next to the empty projector room
Looking out of one of the projection holes
I’m hoping @dweeb or someone else can tell me what this was for? I’m guessing some sort of periscope to somewhere?
An un smashed window, a rare find somewhere like this lol
The places is full of these cast vents.
Old markings on the door
and on the stairs
I daren’t go out onto the circle.
Main entrance
As always someone thought it would be a good idea to box over the original features. Idiots.
Joists starting to give
Not sure if it has been filled in or if there was no basement. These stairs just led down to a small room. Some nice glazed brickwork though.
Looking up to where the stage once was
Looking up from the stage to the bricked projection room
and to finish and old poster bill from when it was the Lyceum
This looks like it was taken in the 60’s going off the Anglia.
So the first stop was to get up as high as I could. Which was to this room. Where the floor was kippered.
Which was next to the empty projector room
Looking out of one of the projection holes
I’m hoping @dweeb or someone else can tell me what this was for? I’m guessing some sort of periscope to somewhere?
An un smashed window, a rare find somewhere like this lol
The places is full of these cast vents.
Old markings on the door
and on the stairs
I daren’t go out onto the circle.
Main entrance
As always someone thought it would be a good idea to box over the original features. Idiots.
Joists starting to give
Not sure if it has been filled in or if there was no basement. These stairs just led down to a small room. Some nice glazed brickwork though.
Looking up to where the stage once was
Looking up from the stage to the bricked projection room
and to finish and old poster bill from when it was the Lyceum
