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Report - - The Workington Opera House | Theatres and Cinemas | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - The Workington Opera House

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Bovine

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
This was built in 1888 as the Queens Jubilee Hall and Opera House. After being gutted by fire in 1927, it was re-built with one balcony as a cine-variety theatre. The facade became shops in 1963 and a new entrance created in a side passage, for what had now become a bingo hall.
Disused after September 2004, the building is quietly mouldering away, masked by the surrounding shopping development. There is a lot of water ingress, causing parts of the ceiling to collapse and an overall feeling of damp.
A planning application was submitted in March 2010 for demolition and replacement by 9 retail units and 15 apartments. A protest group was formed to try to save it and the planners gave it a 3 month reprieve, to see what transpired.
I could not get an exterior view without attracting too much attention!
Neither could I find access to the projection room, except by going across the bird infested roof, - possibly unsafe!

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The understage bar

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The sunburst ceiling decoration

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A winner!

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Old and new-er!

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The roof shot

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Safety curtain windlass in the fly tower

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Gantry above proscenium, safety curtain behind it.

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Up in the flies

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Ice cream tray

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Finally, the place was littered with dead fruit machines!
 
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