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Scarborough Theatres and Halls

Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed in Scarborough 1867, 1879, 1886

Opera House, St Thomas Street, Scarborough

1876: Charles Adnam’s Grand Circus - Wooden building built by John Petch
1877: Hengler’s Grand Cirque - Almost completely rebuilt by Frank Tugwell
1878: Prince of Wales Circus
1900: Zalvas Hippodrome
1908: New Hippodrome
1910: Opera House
1914: Grand Opera House
1948 Box Office Rebuilt - See article below.
1976: Refurbished and re-roofed, and a bar was added at the rear by Dennis Hitch.
2004: Demolished after major Flood damage and arson attacks.

Right - Auditorium of the Opera House, Scarborough in the 1930s, Courtesy The Theatres Trust.

The necessity of providing more convenient and additional booking facilities had long been occupying the minds of the administrators of the Opera House, but it was not until the 24th May of this year that the actual work commenced. Prior to this, when making the preliminary survey, our architects found a section of the flooring of both the existing Box Office and the site of the new was seriously affected with dry rot of the fungal type, necessitating the immediate insertion of temporary supports,

On wider examination the space below was found to be an old cellar which had, at some previous date, been partially filled with clay and rubble. To complete the required excavation about 54 tons of such material were removed. Water seepage, which had for a long time been a matter of some concern and believed to originate from underground springs situated some distance behind the Opera House, proved to amount to a depth of 1 inch following heavy rains. This discovery necessitated the provision of a special drainage system.

As work progressed various cracks in the plaster-work became apparent, and these were traced to a settlement in the large wooden beam extending across the display window. It was found that the weight of the main front elevation resting on this beam was crushing its supporting walls. To deal with this satisfactorily the whole of the front was demolished and a complete new window installed which will, in due course, be faced in clack vitrolite with chromium-plated steel windows in the plinth.

During the period of subsidence heavy baulks of timber were inserted to, support the main, central column as the settlement affected the floors above, including the Manager's private flat, so that doors became impossible to close.

As can be appreciated, the tracing of these additional defects and effecting their remedy involved additional time, but are really believed to have been a blessing in disguise as serious consequences might have developed had they remained undiscovered much longer.

On the 30th October, the staff were able to conduct business from the new Box Office, and it is hoped that by the time our patrons read this article the foyer will be free of all obstruction. There still remain, of course, various "finishing touches" to be carried out, but the delay in their completion does not seriously detract from the efficient working of the new scheme. Delivery of the grilles for the four Box Office windows is still awaited owing to the shortage of the required materials, which necessitated the order being placed with an outside firm instead of locally, as was originally intended.

The provision of the four booking windows has proved a very useful amenity by assisting those patrons who wish to reserve seats for other than the current performance. One window is solely for bookings during the early part of the week, the second for Permanent Seatholders, the third for reservations during the second half of the week, and the fourth is used exclusively by Upper Circle patrons, for whose added convenience a new ticket machine has been installed.

The completed scheme includes a cloakroom with the necessary counter immediately opposite the Box Office, and a specially designed ladies' toilet suite in the basement.

Text from the December 6th 1948 Opera House Scarborough Programme. Advertisements from various 1948 Season Programmes.

Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here in 1886

Eugenius Birch, 1877-c1968

...Birch moved on to design the exotic Indo-Moorish Scarborough Aquarium, which cost £111,000 and opened on Whit Monday 1877. Unlike the Brighton Aquarium, which still exists (though much altered), almost nothing is left of the Scarborough Aquarium, which was sited beneath the Valley Bridge. It covered 2 ¼ acres, was lit by 1,600 gas jets and had a wildly extravagant interior, with long vistas of Moorish arches and much of the decoration based on that of Hindu temples, notably Binderabund, which Birch had used as a model for his Blackpool North Pier Indian Pavilion of 1874. At 36 ft square, one of the tanks was the largest in the world and held 300 tons of water; it was sometimes used for swimming exhibitions. The Aquarium buildings included a concert hall, reading room, dining room and fernery and, with its Japanese theatre and villages, the whole was something of a 19th century theme park. Red, buff and black encaustic tiles with a central hawthorn blossom pattern ornamented the dados, while those used on the floor were patterned with shells, seaweed, starfish and dolphins. Amid this colourful mass of international motifs, English pastoral scenes in oils were intended to add light and interest to the concert hall...

...Despite Birch’s reputation, the Scarborough Aquarium was not a financial success, and it was sold in 1886 to the manager of Blackpool Winter Gardens, William Morgan, for £5,150. Morgan’s policy of charging 6d admission for an entire day’s entertainment made the Aquarium briefly successful. A swimming bath was added in 1893, a theatre in 1907 and a skating rink in 1909, but the crowds stayed away; by 1914 the Aquarium was in the hands of liquidators. Scarborough Council ran the buildings as Galaland between 1925 and 1966, but demolition, and the loss of one of the best of the seaside pleasure palaces, came a few years later...

Above text courtesy Lynn Pearson
From her book 'The People's Palaces, Britain's Seaside Pleasure Buildings' 1870-1914.