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Report - - Arts Guild Theatre, Greenock - June 2018 | Theatres and Cinemas | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Arts Guild Theatre, Greenock - June 2018

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Sammorris_42

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Hi, i'm a long time lurker but i've finally decided to make my first report, I hope I do everything correct :)

History
This site was originally built as a swimming pool in 1881, until it closed in 1941 and was then bought over by the Greenock Arts Guild Ltd in 1946.
In 1949 The Arts Guild Theatre opened with two meeting rooms and a small 100-seat theatre on the first floor of the building.
The Main Auditorium which opened in 1955 was converted from the swimming pool itself, with the slope of the pool floor forming raked stalls giving good sightlines to the stage built at the pool's deep end.

The Arts Guild Theatre complex developed as an arts centre and community theatre, with performances from both amateur and professional theatre companies.
A scenery store and two additional meeting rooms were added in the 1960s, and in the 1980s the original 100 seat theatre was refurbished to become a multi purpose studio space.
The Main Auditorium provided 454 raked seats in total on two levels. The Arts Guild Theatre also had four dressing rooms, and four rehearsal rooms.

In 2004 it was proposed that the theatre underwent a large and costly refurbishment.
Rather than refurbish the current site with limited space, the local council suggested that the guild should relocate to a more central site on the waterfront.
After several months of discussion and a feasibility study, the Guild opted to build a brand new theatre - 'The Beacon' - on the site of former dry docks.
In December of 2012, the Arts Guild Theatre finally closed its doors.

In 2013, The beacon opened, and since then has been hosting shows while the old arts guild has been abandoned, rotting away.
In 2016 the old arts guild theatre had been scheduled for demolition, yet as of writing this report (6/6/19) it still stands.
over the past few years there have been groups of workers on site working to remove asbestos from the theatre, which is why I believe the demolition has been taking so long.

Photos
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Stairway leading down to the cafe and entrance

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"The blue room" as I call it, this would have been used to store costumes for the actors

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Old messages from members

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The main stage, as viewed from the balcony

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All of the seats had been ripped out on both levels

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A small cafeteria area, this place was littered with half done bottles of juice from the workers removing asbestos
There were also asbestos bags lying in piles in this room, thankfully they were unused and empty

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Behind the cafe was this warehouse area, there were a bunch of shelves behind me all empty and collecting dust

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View from the cafeteria facing towards the bottom of the stairs from the first image

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One of the meeting rooms, just to the left of the ticket office

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The front door had been covered in plastic to prevent the asbestos that was being removed from escaping into the nearby streets

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The entire entrance was covered in plastic, being there felt like I was in some zombie film in some bio-hazard place

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One of the two dressing rooms

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On the very top floor there was some kind of caretakers flat, it was mostly empty apart from the still furnished kitchen and odd board game boxes lying around

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One of the two bedrooms in the caretakers flat

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Power was still working in this part of the building, we were able to turn the lights on and off

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here is the 'multi purpose studio space' on the first floor, when this place was open I remember the members using it for rehearsals

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Catwalk behind the stage, there were more ladders behind me which led up to an even higher catwalk, and into a catwalk that went above the main seating area

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The main stage from close up​
 
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tatsol

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Thanks for sharing, that's looks like a really interesting place. Did you have to wear masks or respirators here then?
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
I know this was June, somehow I missed it then. But I must say, its a good 1st report. Not many get it right 1st time. But there is nothing wrong with this, well done :thumb
 

Sammorris_42

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Thanks for sharing, that's looks like a really interesting place. Did you have to wear masks or respirators here then?

Not at all! there wasn't any disturbed asbestos lying around, I think that they had taken the majority of it out by the time I visited, so there was no need to worry about breathing in any funky dust
 

PEUK

@teampeuk
28DL Full Member
Great! I've always wondered about this place. I might have a mooch around over the holiday period.
 

Five.Claws

General Nuisance
28DL Full Member
This place looks great! Feels like the stage area would have had quite a spooky atmosphere. I love all the plastic sheeted "quarantine" zones too, really lives up to the name of this forum! ;D
 

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