Palladium

The Palladium was opened in 1928, designed by Blackpool architect Halstead Best, and closed as a cinema in 1976. From 1930 until c.1951, it had a Christie organ. The palladium was owned by South Shore Theatres Ltd, which also owned the Waterloo cinema on the same road. Bingo took over from 1977 to 2009, but made few changes to the auditorium and foyer. There are five bands of decorative fibrous plaster across the barrel vaulted ceiling and panels containing griffins horizontally along the side walls in lieu of balcony slips. The balcony front is simply decorated with rectangular panels broken by lion masks. It is gently curved with slightly serpentine-shaped ends. The proscenium has been completely altered in a plain style to accommodate Cinemascope. It is likely that the stage was demolished when this alteration was made, since it had had very little use. A cafe used to exist at first floor level running along the Waterloo Road frontage, and a charming foyer runs the full width of the building with entrances on each of the roads. Again there is much fibrous plasterwork. The exterior is red brick, dressed in stone along Waterloo Road, and fairly plain, the main entrance being deeply recessed. Along the back end of the theatre can still be seen "Palladium Theatre" in large white letters. The stage area is now utilised as a car park, the edges of the brickwork left ragged and doors either bricked up or with new exterior staircases constructed. In 2015 plans to convert part of the ground floor to a takeaway were approved.