Visited with ROYALBOB The Grand, built in 1899, may incorporate parts of the shell of an older (possibly circus) building. As originally built it stood on a prominent site in a shopping street facing the main railway station. Old-fashioned (but comparatively recent) city centre ‘improvements’ have, however, robbed it of any sensible context. It is no longer in a street but on what now looks like the backlot of an inward-looking shopping precinct. It still faces the station but is separated from it by a busy inner ring road which comes so close that it has actually snipped off a lower corner of the stage house. The approach from the station (to the town as well as the theatre) is now by way of a repellent subway. It is a wonder that it has survived at all and it was, in fact, threatened with demolition even after it was listed in 1994.
Roof by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Seats by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Bar by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Bingo Room by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Top of Theater by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Door by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Stage by KelseyRebecca98, on Flickr
Tar