April 2023
I visited this one with @stranton after seeing the excellent report from @Esoteric Eric last month. We spent about an hour wandering around this vast building which never seemed to end and it quickly became apparent that it was in a very poor state with every surface and floor saturated in water. There are a few original features left in the building, including some plasterwork and seating in the upper half of the building. Sadly, the conversion into a nightclub in the 1990's caused a lot of damage to the lower floors and there are very few signs of the buildings' former use. The building was packed with 'natural decay' and despite clear signs of rough sleeping on the ground floor, there wasn't really any vandalism to speak of and whoever was staying there had clearly been respectful to the building.
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The History
The Theatre Royal was constructed in 1904 as a replacement for an earlier theatre that was built on the site. The building features a superb façade in ashlar stone in the Edwardian style and was designed by Richard Horsfall & Son of Halifax. The 1st-900-seat auditorium, believed to have been split over four levels, was gutted in April 1937 and to the plans of architect Christopher Rowland Cooper a new two-tier 2,200-seat cinema auditorium was created which extended into the stage area.
The cinema closed in the 1960’s and became a bingo hall, which in turn closed in the 1990’s. Various redevelopment schemes, retaining the façade of the Grade II Listed building, but demolishing the auditorium came to nought and it re-opened as a nightclub, Chinese restaurant and bar. Unfortunately, by 2007 these had closed and the building was put up for sale. The site has fairly recent planning permission and listed building consent, dating from 2016, including demolition of its rear section and creation of a 91-bedroom hotel with basement parking. In July 2022 RK Hotels Ltd applied to Calderdale Council for permission to convert the former theatre into a Holiday Inn Express hotel.
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Cheers for looking 
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18mm EFS
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18mm EFS
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