Alhambra Music Hall

A large room at the rear of the Staffordshire Knot hotel had been used for many years by strolling companies. A New Theatre (so named) opened for a short season in 1856. It was enlarged in 1867 with an entrance separate from the hotel with variety for six nights a week. It reopened in 1870 as the Alhambra Music Hall. It was reported that ‘arrangements for the hall are altered… much for the better’. No further announcements appeared in the press after the 1870 summer break, but it appears to have operated beyond this date since, in 1889, the local newspaper reported waning audiences. It is possible that competition from the the newly opened St George’s Hall contributed to this especially as it frequently booked shows and artists from the world of lighter entertainment.