Palace

2045

The Theatre Royal was opened in 1791 by John Boles Watson. No description found, but accommodation was probably pit, gallery and private boxes. Gas lighting was installed in 1835.

In 1857 the theatre was acquired by John Blinkhorn, a railway contractor, who reconstructed it internally with two horseshoe-shaped balconies and a gallery supported by iron pillars. All decorated with ornate plasterwork; William Beverley painted the act-drop which depicted an Italian landscape. The stage facilities included a vampire trap and two star traps. Again rebuilt in 1897.

Bought at auction by Poole (of Poole’s Diorama) in 1902, after which ciné-variety, theatre and cinema were presented. The building was dismantled in 1922 but a doorway and a bust of Shakespeare remain in Westgate Street, and below ground level, a door in the Theatre Vaults Public House adjoining was the former pit entrance.