Visited with @Humpa
This was one of those irritating local places that just always seemed to be impossible to get inside! Obviously I'd seen Speed's reports from way back when which showed the inside was largely stripped out, so of course it was never going to be a top of the list item. We were down in Stafford on a very rainy day last October taking a look at a few other places, so decided to check in on this whilst passing. For once there actually seemed to be a way inside! Once inside though we weren't greeted with a particularly pleasant place; for one it was raining almost as much inside as it was outside due to a knackered roof, and somehow even more of the place had been stripped back to brick. So really there wasn't a great deal to see. The nice murals are still there in the foyer, upstairs there's some nice bits of stained glass and the plaster work above the proscenium is still in place (just about). We managed to lug some materials across the buildings to bridge the lake which had formed in the stage area to have a look around the back stage bits and bobs - totally not worth it.
One cool bit that we ended up in though was what seemed like a small shop unit hidden behind the big sign on the front, complete with it's original windows and a nice spiral staircase. All in all it was certainly nice to tick it off the list, but it was pretty meh in all honesty.
Bit of history yoinked from the ever dependable Cinema Treasures:
A photo of the auditorium taken in 1991 shortly after the bingo had closed, but before the snooker club moved in and installed a naff suspended ceiling.
This was one of those irritating local places that just always seemed to be impossible to get inside! Obviously I'd seen Speed's reports from way back when which showed the inside was largely stripped out, so of course it was never going to be a top of the list item. We were down in Stafford on a very rainy day last October taking a look at a few other places, so decided to check in on this whilst passing. For once there actually seemed to be a way inside! Once inside though we weren't greeted with a particularly pleasant place; for one it was raining almost as much inside as it was outside due to a knackered roof, and somehow even more of the place had been stripped back to brick. So really there wasn't a great deal to see. The nice murals are still there in the foyer, upstairs there's some nice bits of stained glass and the plaster work above the proscenium is still in place (just about). We managed to lug some materials across the buildings to bridge the lake which had formed in the stage area to have a look around the back stage bits and bobs - totally not worth it.
One cool bit that we ended up in though was what seemed like a small shop unit hidden behind the big sign on the front, complete with it's original windows and a nice spiral staircase. All in all it was certainly nice to tick it off the list, but it was pretty meh in all honesty.
Bit of history yoinked from the ever dependable Cinema Treasures:
A photo of the auditorium taken in 1991 shortly after the bingo had closed, but before the snooker club moved in and installed a naff suspended ceiling.
Thanks for looking
