Theatre Royal

The Theatre Royal on Oldham Road was diagonally across the Cotton Street intersection from the Hippodrome/Empire/Tameside Theatre. The Theatre Royal opened on 14th September 1891 as a drama theatre, built for Charles Revill. It had a capacity for 3,000 (including standing spaces).

Designed by noted theatre architect Frank Matcham. The auditorium had two horse-shoe shaped balconies, and there were boxes on each side of the 29 feet wide proscenium. The stage was 41 feet deep and 75 feet wide. The overall decorative scheme was described as ‘Arabesque’.

The Theatre Royal was equipped with a British Talking Pictures(BTP) sound system and converted into a cinema in 1931. By 1937 it had been taken over by the H.D. Moorhouse Circuit. It remained a cinema until 1939. It then reverted back to live theatre use from 1940 until it was closed in the mid-1950’s. It was later used as a bingo hall, and was demolished in 1963.

In 2013 Bees Knees Limousines operate from this address.

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

Ian on November 27, 2013 at 2:42 pm

In the aerial photograph accompanying this theatre :

No.1 is the Majestic / Gaumont / Odeon / Metro

No.2 is the Pavilion Cinema

No.3 is the Hippodrome / Empire / Tameside

No.4 is the Theatre Royal

also in the extreme top right of the photo is the Oddfellows Hall / Stamford Cinema (three 1st floor windows facing the street)

billwhittle on October 8, 2016 at 10:10 pm

i can remember going to the variety preformance in 1956 which used to be at 6:30 on Friday nights cost was threepence to sit in the gods so it definitely didn’t shut in 1953