Preston Guild Hall
Visited with @little_ boy_explores and separately with @UrbandonedTeam, @huyt.urb and @DustySensorPhotography.
The History:
The construction for the Guild Hall began in 1969 and was designed by Robert Matthew and Johnson Marshall and commissioned to replace the town's Public Hall. The new building was considered a “revolutionary feat of architecture” at the time, but many residents of Preston were not keen on the brutalist architecture employed that contrasted so heavily with the Georgian terraces that made up the city centre. The building was supposed to be ready in 1972, had it’s opening delayed due to builders’ strikes before finally opening in 1973.
The complex consists of three performance venues, the Grand Hall which holds 2,034, the Charter Theatre which holds 780 people and the LiVe venue which holds 500 people. Some of the worlds biggest artists have performed at the venue such as: Martha Argerich, Morrissey, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Jackson 5, Thin Lizzy, Busted and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel among others. It also hosted the UK Snooker Championship for the years 1978 to 1997. Interestingly, the Guild Hall is placed on top of a still active shopping centre is connected to an arcade. Despite the closure, these businesses remained open and still do to this day.
Until July 2014, it was owned by Preston City Council, who were considering its demolition due to its high running costs. It was then sold to local businessman, Simon Rigby for £1 under a 999-year lease. Rigby promised to spend £1m to renovate the venue. Instead, Rigby lost £6 million over 5 years while enduring the project. It was this that resulted Rigby to close the venue in May 2019. In June 2019, he placed the business into administration. Preston City Council subsequently reclaimed possession of the building, citing the "unacceptable behaviour" of Rigby. The estate is still being resolved and so the site remains mothballed.
Led Zeppelin playing at the Guild Hall in 1973.
The Explore:
Considering how close I am to Preston; it never was clear to me that the Guild Hall was closed. It wasn’t until @little_ boy_explores confirmed it and proposed a ridiculous entry route that seemed too fun to miss out on. At the time, the entry route seemed to be the only plausible option until we tried it one December eve. The placement of the Guild Hall above the shopping centre makes it a rather easy site to secure and in turn, a hard one to access. Its brutalist design doesn’t help either… Once inside the building we instantly started to question how “closed” the site was. It was immaculate, and on our way to find the Grand Hall we passed offices, lockers, you name it, all full and with the lights on as if people were there a few hours ago. My second visit with @UrbandonedTeam, @huyt.urb and @DustySensorPhotography was just two days after my first visit. As expected, stuff had changed. Lights were off in rooms where they were on previously and vice versa. Doors and new rooms seemed to be open, so we began as on edge as the visit prior.
The Grand Hall:
On the first visit, we began by sneaking our way to the top floor and past the unknowingly empty security office before entering the Grand Hall. The safety lights remained on and we both figured it would be enough to shoot using long exposures. Getting the lights on was a consideration but the light spilling out of the windows was a good deterrent at the time. Upon the second visit we daringly turned them on. Luckily, they were positioned so that not too much light would have escaped. Anyways, onto the pics:
Bottom of the staircase that leads to the rest of the site.
Corridors surrounding the Grand Hall.
The scale was epic. As a sound technology student who is looking at live sound as a career, visiting a place like this was like a playground for me. Each venue was still fully equipped with desks, EQ racks, FX racks, speaker stacks still flown, spotlights, and so on…
On the floor of the venue.
Seating.
Up in the “control room”. Not too familiar with the lighting companies, but the lighting desk remained and the computer console still on.
The graphic EQs still powered up. Even the spotlights still turned on.
While the others explored the venue, I took myself up the ladders towards the top rigging for even more lighting. I wouldn’t have climbed up here if the place was seriously deteriorating but the maintained venue kept it secure enough to clamber up.
@DustySensorPhotography on the far side of the room gives you a sense of scale.
LiVe Venue, Offices, Conference Rooms, etc...
While exploring we were unable to find a way to explore what we thought was the lobby below the Grand Hall. When I returned, we used the staircases leading off of the Grand Hall floor to take us to the where spectators would have entered and left the building. It also was an area to access the LiVe music venue, an additional venue added in 2016. The chequered floor was a nice touch to this simplistic room as well as the clocks above the north and south bars. We were also able to turn the lights on in here and every bar was fully stocked.
Once we had finished shooting the Grand Hall and the LiVe venue, we aimed for the Charter Theatre. The theatre was on the opposite side of the site which gave us time to explore the rest of the rooms and corridors surrounding the arcade. The rest of the building held two conference suites, the Lancaster Suite and the Avenham Suite, dressing rooms for both the Grand Hall and the Charter Theatre, multiple bar areas, one main kitchen, and a foyer.
At this point it made sense for us to confirm whether security was where we expected him to be. Opening the doors that lead to his office would have been enough to alert him if he were present but his absence allowed us to take a peek inside his office. Close by you could find the dressing rooms used by the Grand Hall performers. We had high hopes for them after seeing a retro dressing room chair stored away prior but unfortunately, they didn’t live up to our expectations.
Securities’ office.
Grand Hall dressing room area.
A few areas seemed to have been influenced by Art Deco architecture. Some designs on the doors and lobby floor designs were evidence of this despite it being very 70s.
The Green Room.
The Avenham Suite.
One of the repair workshops in a room next to the Avenham Suite.
The Lancaster Suite, bar areas and kitchen.
To be continued...
Visited with @little_ boy_explores and separately with @UrbandonedTeam, @huyt.urb and @DustySensorPhotography.
The History:
The construction for the Guild Hall began in 1969 and was designed by Robert Matthew and Johnson Marshall and commissioned to replace the town's Public Hall. The new building was considered a “revolutionary feat of architecture” at the time, but many residents of Preston were not keen on the brutalist architecture employed that contrasted so heavily with the Georgian terraces that made up the city centre. The building was supposed to be ready in 1972, had it’s opening delayed due to builders’ strikes before finally opening in 1973.
The complex consists of three performance venues, the Grand Hall which holds 2,034, the Charter Theatre which holds 780 people and the LiVe venue which holds 500 people. Some of the worlds biggest artists have performed at the venue such as: Martha Argerich, Morrissey, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Jackson 5, Thin Lizzy, Busted and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel among others. It also hosted the UK Snooker Championship for the years 1978 to 1997. Interestingly, the Guild Hall is placed on top of a still active shopping centre is connected to an arcade. Despite the closure, these businesses remained open and still do to this day.
Until July 2014, it was owned by Preston City Council, who were considering its demolition due to its high running costs. It was then sold to local businessman, Simon Rigby for £1 under a 999-year lease. Rigby promised to spend £1m to renovate the venue. Instead, Rigby lost £6 million over 5 years while enduring the project. It was this that resulted Rigby to close the venue in May 2019. In June 2019, he placed the business into administration. Preston City Council subsequently reclaimed possession of the building, citing the "unacceptable behaviour" of Rigby. The estate is still being resolved and so the site remains mothballed.
Led Zeppelin playing at the Guild Hall in 1973.
The Explore:
Considering how close I am to Preston; it never was clear to me that the Guild Hall was closed. It wasn’t until @little_ boy_explores confirmed it and proposed a ridiculous entry route that seemed too fun to miss out on. At the time, the entry route seemed to be the only plausible option until we tried it one December eve. The placement of the Guild Hall above the shopping centre makes it a rather easy site to secure and in turn, a hard one to access. Its brutalist design doesn’t help either… Once inside the building we instantly started to question how “closed” the site was. It was immaculate, and on our way to find the Grand Hall we passed offices, lockers, you name it, all full and with the lights on as if people were there a few hours ago. My second visit with @UrbandonedTeam, @huyt.urb and @DustySensorPhotography was just two days after my first visit. As expected, stuff had changed. Lights were off in rooms where they were on previously and vice versa. Doors and new rooms seemed to be open, so we began as on edge as the visit prior.
The Grand Hall:
On the first visit, we began by sneaking our way to the top floor and past the unknowingly empty security office before entering the Grand Hall. The safety lights remained on and we both figured it would be enough to shoot using long exposures. Getting the lights on was a consideration but the light spilling out of the windows was a good deterrent at the time. Upon the second visit we daringly turned them on. Luckily, they were positioned so that not too much light would have escaped. Anyways, onto the pics:
Bottom of the staircase that leads to the rest of the site.
Corridors surrounding the Grand Hall.
The scale was epic. As a sound technology student who is looking at live sound as a career, visiting a place like this was like a playground for me. Each venue was still fully equipped with desks, EQ racks, FX racks, speaker stacks still flown, spotlights, and so on…
On the floor of the venue.
Seating.
Up in the “control room”. Not too familiar with the lighting companies, but the lighting desk remained and the computer console still on.
The graphic EQs still powered up. Even the spotlights still turned on.
While the others explored the venue, I took myself up the ladders towards the top rigging for even more lighting. I wouldn’t have climbed up here if the place was seriously deteriorating but the maintained venue kept it secure enough to clamber up.
@DustySensorPhotography on the far side of the room gives you a sense of scale.
LiVe Venue, Offices, Conference Rooms, etc...
While exploring we were unable to find a way to explore what we thought was the lobby below the Grand Hall. When I returned, we used the staircases leading off of the Grand Hall floor to take us to the where spectators would have entered and left the building. It also was an area to access the LiVe music venue, an additional venue added in 2016. The chequered floor was a nice touch to this simplistic room as well as the clocks above the north and south bars. We were also able to turn the lights on in here and every bar was fully stocked.
Once we had finished shooting the Grand Hall and the LiVe venue, we aimed for the Charter Theatre. The theatre was on the opposite side of the site which gave us time to explore the rest of the rooms and corridors surrounding the arcade. The rest of the building held two conference suites, the Lancaster Suite and the Avenham Suite, dressing rooms for both the Grand Hall and the Charter Theatre, multiple bar areas, one main kitchen, and a foyer.
At this point it made sense for us to confirm whether security was where we expected him to be. Opening the doors that lead to his office would have been enough to alert him if he were present but his absence allowed us to take a peek inside his office. Close by you could find the dressing rooms used by the Grand Hall performers. We had high hopes for them after seeing a retro dressing room chair stored away prior but unfortunately, they didn’t live up to our expectations.
Securities’ office.
Grand Hall dressing room area.
A few areas seemed to have been influenced by Art Deco architecture. Some designs on the doors and lobby floor designs were evidence of this despite it being very 70s.
The Green Room.
The Avenham Suite.
One of the repair workshops in a room next to the Avenham Suite.
The Lancaster Suite, bar areas and kitchen.
To be continued...
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