Just around the corner from our Bay house in Morecambe is this great lump of a building...
When we first arrived back in Morecambe 2002, I found it dark and foreboding... neglected and sad looking.
I was more interested in The Winter Gardens closer to The Midland Hotel.
Both were soon being renovated and it was obvious that local people cared about those buildings.
The theatre's fortunes faded at exactly the same time that Morecambe's West End became a particular area of major social deprivation as a result of the whole resort's economy collapsing in the 1980s and 1990s.
It opened in 1901 as the Alhambra Palace, it took its name, though not its style, from the famous Moorish original in Granada, Spain. The building was in continuous use, with a range of entertainment and social uses, until 1970 when a fire gutted the interior. Following extensive refurbishment the theatre reopened in 1973 as The Inn on the Bay before renaming itself The Carleton Club, becoming a major events venue and one of the great Northern soul dance clubs.
After closing in 2016, it reopened in the same year as a multi-purpose venue with capacity up to 1,100.
The theatre was the location where Laurence Olivier shot his iconic 1960 film version of John Osborne’s The Entertainer.
In 2016...Ian Bond, a local property developer, aquired the premises and opened some of it again.
The lockdown has brought more changes...the old front was covered up and he has removed some of it to reveal the wonderful tesserae of the Alhambra lettering.
Such a great font!
...a corner of the entrance,,,
...carved pillars of yorkshire stone also revealed on either side of the front doors...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfwR7-KNF4U
What a pity that lockdown made such a difference to buildings and premises like this. I love Morecambe. When I was widowed the first time and before I married my farmer I used to often drive over to Morecambe with a picnic lunch, find somewhere to eat it and walk along the prom. We actally live more or less exactly between Saltburn on the East Coast and Morecambe on the West Coast. My friends who live in Windermere are in the process of moving to Grange.
ReplyDeleteI am really happy to see local entrepreneurs taking up the challenge and restoring these buildings...albeit with new ways of using them...so glad you liked Morecambe Pat.
DeleteWhat lovely details. Thank you!
ReplyDeletethankyou Debbie..lovely to hear from you...stay safe over there. x
ReplyDelete