At Risk register boosts future of Lancashire theatres such as Pavilion in Blackpool Winter Gardens

Five Lancashire venues are on the register as hopes continue that they will continue to flourish or enjoy a new lease of life.

Theatres Trust, the charity that campaigns to protect the UK’s theatres, has published its annual Theatres at Risk Register, which highlights theatres across the UK under threat of closure,

redevelopment or severe decay, but which all have the potential to be revived for their local communities with the right support.

This year’s list nationally comprises 43 buildings, which all have strong architectural merit, cultural heritage or value to the local community as a performance venue.

They include Morecambe Winter Gardens, which has been on the list since it started in 2006, the Pavilion at Blackpool Winter Gardens and the Joe Longthorne Theatre on Blackpool’s North Pier, both which have been on the list since 2014, They and the Morecambe venue, albeit the latter in a limited capacity, still currently host events.

The other Lancashire theatres listed are the Burnley Empire, closed since 1997 and, like Morecambe Winter Gardens, an ever-present on the list for 19 years, and the Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre, which closed in July 2023 and is new to the At Risk Register this year.

The Theatres Trust says that the aim of the Theatres at Risk Register is to call the public’s attention to these important buildings, their challenges, and the significant cultural opportunities they can bring to local communities.

Theatres Trust director Joshua McTaggart said: “Since the list began in 2006, more than 80 theatres have been restored, revived or had a suitable replacement built.

"There has been steady progress with several theatres on the list, in particular at Morecambe Winter Gardens where the capital project has advanced enough for its ‘risk rating’ to be lowered. “There have also been positive signs at other theatres that Theatres Trust is giving increased support to through its Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities programme of grants, training and expert advice, including Burnley Empire and Leith Theatre.”

Morecambe Winter Gardens

Morecambe Winter Gardens is a Grade II* listed building of a rare type – a big concert party hall – and is now thought to be one of a kind.

It was built in 1897 to the designs of Mangnall and Littlewood and isrominently sited on the seafront, with the main elevation an ornate, symmetrical composition in brick and terracotta.

The foyer and stair hall are richly decorated with the original mosaic, faience tiling and fine joinery. Beyond, a curving promenade with timber and glazed screens leads to an impressive auditorium.

The building is operated by Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust Ltd (MWGPT), which, alongside invaluable help from local volunteers, has been slowly restoring the theatre and bringing it back into use.

Since 2020, MWGPT, under new governance and leadership, has built on the work of the previous administration and made even greater progress.

The work achieved to date has allowed the theatre to open to the public for a mixed programme of entertainment, operating from the ground floor and stalls only.

While the circle level and upper levels are open for public tours, they are currently undergoing restoration.

In March 2023 Morecambe Winter Gardens was awarded £2.74m through the Cultural Development Fund for works to provide additional accommodation including a new toilet block, circulation, and evacuation routes as well as continued restoration work.

That was the first phase of a larger project for Winter Gardens to be fully reopened and operating at its full potential.

Additional significant funding will be required to realise the ambition of completely restoring the building as a 2,500 capacity music venue.

In May 2019, MWGPT was successful in its bid to Theatres Trust Theatres at Risk Capacity Building Programme with a grant awarded for a governance and training review and to provide short-term business planning advice and since then around £4.6m has been raised from a variety of sources, including the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund, Historic England, Marketing Lancaster and a crowndfunder campaign.

The project continues to grow in profile with national, as well as local, interest. In July 2022, Prince Charles, now King Charles III, visited the venue, where he unveiled a plaque for the royal box to commemorate the building's 125th anniversary. He also praised volunteers for their determination and the progress made in restoring the historic theatre.

In November 2023 the volunteers at Morecambe Winter Gardens were awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, an award to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to benefit their communities.

Professor Vanessa Toulmin, who chairs the Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust, said: “The Winter Gardens has been on the Theatres at Risk Register since 2006 and since 2020 we have worked closely with the Theatres Trust and seen massive improvement.

"The funding we have secured and the additional support we receive from being on the list provides us with expert knowledge, access to funds and the knowledge that every year we are improving.

"The recent Arts Council Cultural Development Fund money is reaping the benefits with the fabulous floor restoration completed last year and the new sound and lighting system transforming the venue. We still have a long way to go, we are totally volunteer run but each year progress is made.”

The Pavilion at Blackpool Winter Gardens

The Winter Gardens in Blackpool town centre is a vast entertainment complex containing a number of individual entertainment venues, constructed between 1875 and 1939.

The Pavilion was one of the first of those to be built and was converted to a theatre by Thomas Mitchell in 1889 and the present auditorium of 1896-97 is by Wylson and Long. The proscenium stage was blocked off in the 1980s and converted into a restaurant, but the auditorium is still an impressive space, with an opulent music hall interior, two balconies running around three sides and a richly decorated ceiling.

Very little of Wylson and Long’s work has survived to the present day and Blackpool Winter Gardens Pavilion survives as their most important monument.

In 2017, Blackpool Council commissioned a Statement of Significance for the Pavilion and this has shown that it is in fact one of the only remaining auditorium examples in the UK that exemplifies and spans the period of the end of music hall and the development of variety theatre. As such, it is of national significance.

But since 2013, parts of the Pavilion Theatre have been progressively deteriorating with leaks to the roof causing damage to the historic decorative plasterwork.

The plaster had started to fall away and there was a severe risk that further movement could have caused the sequential collapse of the ceiling.

Preventative measures were put in place to make the roof watertight, and a scaffold and crash decks were erected to prevent further movement of the ceiling and to catch any plaster falls that might occur. At the time, immediate repair work was estimated at a cost of around £2m.

In 2014, and as part of grant development works for a Heritage Lottery Fund bid Blackpool Council commissioned further conditions surveys and historical research resulting in the production of an updated Statement of Significance for the Pavilion Theatre. The larger Heritage Lottery Fund project, that would have seen the Pavilion Theatre and Horseshoe transformed into a museum, was never completed. No further repair works have been undertaken.

The Theates Trust says that while the Pavilion has been in partial use as a part of the larger, operational Winter Gardens complex, it is considered extremely vulnerable. Restoration works are required and the scale of the repairs growing.

Joe Longthorne Theatre

The theatres named five years agao in honour of the much-loved performer is an art deco pavilion on Blackpool’s North Pier dating from the 1930s and is now one of only six operating pier theatres in the country.

The Blackpool Pier Company opened the North Pier in 1863 and it is now the oldest of the surviving piers built by renowned promenade pier architect and engineer Eugenius Birch.

The current pavilion is Grade II listed and one of only four in the country operating on the seaward end of a pier.

In December 2013, the North Pier was severely damaged by strong winds, which caused its seaward end to close for health and safety reasons.

During the storm, damage was also caused to the theatre and during the winter of 2015-16, a structural survey of the pier was undertaken, followed by a review to examine options for the pier structure.

The review was led by the council, working in conjunction with the pier’s owner, and involved the support of Historic England, National Piers Society, The Victorian Society and Theatres Trust and following a successful bid supported by Theatres Trust, Blackpool’s three piers were placed on the World Monuments Fund watch list in 2018.

In 2023, reports emerged that a decline in sand levels could start to threaten the pier footings at all of Blackpool’s piers.

Levels of sand loss have accelerated since 2008, with a loss at the base of the North Pier of up to a metre, but engineers have stated that they do not believe this to be an immediate threat.

The council has received £57m from the Environment Agency for the Blackpool Central Area Beach Nourishment Scheme, which will look to ensure beach levels are maintained and includes the construction of sea defences.

In July 2023, 3D imaging was carried out to survey the steelwork of the pier and the Blackpool Pier Company has confirmed that work will be undertaken to replace some of the trusses and main support beams beneath the pier.

It is intended that the 3D imaging will be updated every few years to ensure the data is current and allow the owners to prioritise repairs and schedule maintenance.

Despite the theatre being open, it is still deemed at risk due to the condition of the pier and its extreme vulnerability to climate change.