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Report - - Empire Theater Burnley May 2015 | Theatres and Cinemas | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Empire Theater Burnley May 2015

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woopashoopaa

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Visited here with @Telf @Lavino and @GRONK this was the first visit of the day the access was pretty easy but the place is falling apart for instance the stage has pretty much no access unless you have a ladder (or long legs). The highlight of the whole visit was getting on the roof and taking some shots of the epic views across Burnley but we still had to keep our heads down since the place was in the town center. There was a little bar serving food which was very since it was in quit good nick but just next to it there was a lot of flooding and we didn't bring wellies so we couldn't go down there. But here is some history and some pics I took hope you enjoy.

Originally called the Empire Theatre of Varieties, this theatre opened in Burnley in 1894 with capacity to seat 1935 people. Funded by the Directors of the Victoria Opera House Limited.

The auditorium consists of stalls and pit on the ground floor, with balcony and gallery. At the back of the pit and each gallery is a promenade. Each gallery has an independent stone staircase two yards wide

1911 saw a redesign of the theatre by Architect Bertie Crème which increased the seating capacity to 2,100 and remains to this day.

In 1938 some alterations were made converting the theatres use to a Cinema venue which also resulted in a slight loss of around 300 seats in capacity. Finally Burnley Empire became a Gala Bingo Hall much like many similar sized theatre venues across the country.

In 1995 the building became abandoned and has rapidly deteriorated both internally and externally. In 2013 it was reported that the owners of the Empire Theatre were given 8 weeks to make emergency repairs mainly to the exterior which was thought to be at risk of partial collapse onto nearby footpaths. However it does not appear that anyone from the Lancashire Theatre Company (the registered owners) have come forward to claim ownership.

There have been talks of compulsory works being completed by the council and I expect given its central location that ultimately a compulsory purchase order will be considered if nothing further happens to the site in the not too distant future.

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Lancashire lad

chief taster for costa coffee
28DL Full Member
shit on a stick how the hell did you get access ive been trying to look in here for a few years now finally got chance to go last November but the guy leading the urbex pulled out and left us without a plan b
 

Camera Shy

Old enough to know better
Regular User
Go and have a look yourself, you don't need an urbex leader lol, it's a piece of piss and has been for ages.
 

Lancashire lad

chief taster for costa coffee
28DL Full Member
I lived in burnley all my life mate I know the empire well I also know its owned by three different people two old ladies who live just out of town and a chap who owns the entance foyer who moved away down south somewhere the guy who was organizing the visit was a friend of one of the owners and had a key (no illegal entry )I have looked time and time again and its always been locked up tighter than a nuns c**t so im surprised you have entry , saying that its been six month since ive been down @Camera Shy
 

Lavino

................
28DL Full Member
Things can change a lot in 6 months if you live close by get yourself back down there and have another good look around entry isn't always where you'd expect..
 

Lancashire lad

chief taster for costa coffee
28DL Full Member
to be honest @woopashoopaa id rather do it by myself so theres no disappointment last minute proper geared up for it too with dust masks n all that (ASBESTOS IS RIFE IN THERE APPARENTLY)
 

GRONK

Useful Idiot
Regular User
Great set of photos mate, it certainly was an interesting place.
Falling through that floor wasn't great, even if it was only a foot deep.
 

woopashoopaa

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Great set of photos mate, it certainly was an interesting place.
Falling through that floor wasn't great, even if it was only a foot deep.
Yeah it was a great day and we had only been in 5 minutes to witness u putting your foot through the floor hahaha:D
 
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