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Empire Theatre, Great Horton Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Formerly the Empire Music Hall / Empire Theatre & Opera House

Bradford Index

The Empire Theatre, Bradford was built by W. Sprague and opened as the Empire Music Hall on the 30th of January 1899 with an auditorium on three levels, Stalls, Circle, and Balcony. The Theatre was built across the road from the site where the Alhambra Theatre would later be built in 1914. This was a serious blow for the Empire and in April 1916 the Theatre closed down and was reconfigured and reopened in August that year as the Empire Theatre & Opera House. Unfortunately a serious fire the following year resulted in the stage being destroyed and its Theatre days were over.

In February 1918 the Empire reopened as a Cinema, the Empire Cinema, and ran successfully for many years under various different managements and names but on the 25th of January 1952 a fire broke out after the Cinema had closed for the night doing a great deal of damage to the building and it was never to reopen.

The entrance of the Empire was converted into a restaurant for the adjoining Alexandra Hotel and other areas were also taken over by the hotel until eventually the whole building was demolished in the early 1980s and the hotel was itself demolished in 1993.

Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here in 1902 See Below:

Bradford Daily Telegraph, Monday 10th March 1902

Empire Theatre
(w/c) Monday 10th March 1902
Twice Nightly 6.50 and 9.00.

Katie Seymour
The celebrated favourite of the Gaiety Theatre London with her
Chorus of Lady Singers and Dancers in a novel and terpsichorean entertainment.

LaBelle Wilma, Paintress in sand and smoke.

Tom W. Burrows
The World's greatest Club Swinger.

Arthur Lloyd, the popular comedian
assisted by his two clever daughters in comedy sketch.

Lily Morris, Harry Bold.

The Two Sisters O'Mears, first appearance of the
famous wonders on the Tight Wires.

Five Delevines in Musical Melange.

Prices of admission: 2s, 1s 6d, 1s, 6d, 4d and 3d.