Palace Theatre, Swansea

The Palace Theatre
The Pavilion
Address 156 High Street, Swansea, SA1 1AE
Swansea
WalesWales
Coordinates 51°37′39.00″N 3°56′28.00″W / 51.6275000°N 3.9411111°W / 51.6275000; -3.9411111
Current use Disused
Construction
Opened 1888
Architect Bucknall & Jennings

The Palace Theatre is a building located at the northern end of High Street, Swansea, Wales, recognisable for its distinctive wedge shape.

Originally built in 1888 as a traditional music hall, the building's original name was the 'Pavilion'. During its lifetime, the building has been used as a bingo hall as well as a gay nightclub.

The Grade II Listed building [1] is one of just two purpose-built music halls left standing in the whole of the UK.[2]

In the early years of the 20th century stars like Charlie Chaplin, Lilly Langtry, Marie Lloyd and Dan Leno filled the venue.

Sir Anthony Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance there in 1960 with Swansea Little Theatre's production of 'Have A Cigarette'.[3]

Also in the early 1960s, Morecambe and Wise were booked. Ken Dodd was the last stand-up comedian to appear there before it became nightclub in the 1970s.

It was also the first place in Wales to show a silent picture and remained undamaged by the blitz that destroyed much of Swansea city centre during the Second World War.

The ground floor bar and lounge was used as a licensed pub for many years before closing.

Eventually the theatre was sold for £300,000 to a property company, but in 2010 it was still derelict and actor Edward Fox joined a campaign to have it restored.[4]

New campaign

In 2014, a new campaign was launched on Facebook.[5]

High Street in 1915

In April 2014 Swansea Council made £75,000 [6] available to the owners to carry out work on the High Street theatre, which had been named as one of the 10 most endangered Victorian and Edwardian buildings in England and Wales. The Victorian Society called it "a victim of urban decay",[7] and the Theatres Trust commented in 2013 that, if left, the building might well collapse.[8] The council funds were earmarked for "emergency works", including making the building watertight, removing vegetation and removing loose brickwork that could be deemed “unsafe”. By September 2014 the council was issuing a reminder to the owners that the work needed to be completed promptly.[9]

In 2018 the derelict theatre was identified as being "at the hub of the city's street sex trade", after residents of High Street complained that they were no longer able to walk past the building in safety.[10]

References

  1. ↑ British Listed Buildings
  2. ↑ http://www.theatre-wales.co.uk/venues/venues_details.asp?venue_ID=78
  3. ↑ BBC
  4. ↑ "Edward Fox bid to save historic Palace where Charlie Chaplin played", Wales Online, 7 Aug 2010. Accessed 6 Nov 2014
  5. ↑ South Wales Evening Post
  6. ↑ The Stage
  7. ↑ Victorian Society. Accessed 6 Nov 2014
  8. ↑ BBC News, "Palace Theatre, Swansea, may 'fall down' if left untouched", 3 October 2013. Accessed 6 Nov 2014
  9. ↑ "Funding offer to help owners save Palace Theatre in Swansea", South Wales Evening Post, 8 September 2014. Accessed 6 Nov 2014
  10. ↑ Katie Bellis (8 March 2018). "What it's like to live on Swansea's most notorious street". WalesOnline. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
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