Huddersfield’s Palace Theatre set to be demolished

Jul 10 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT was Huddersfield’s famous music hall.

The Palace Theatre attracted some of the country’s top performers and thousands of families would flock to its popular sell-out variety shows.

But now the final curtain could be set to come down on the Kirkgate building as the owners have served a demolition notice.

Hallco 1127, a development company based in London, hope to clear the site as part of plans for an expansion of the nearby Kingsgate shopping centre.

The Kingsgate Phase 2 scheme has been on hold for more than 18 months because of the recession.

Huddersfield Civic Society has described the possible loss of the iconic building as sad, while members of the local theatre community have said it is an important part of the town’s theatrical heritage.

Chris Marsden, the society’s listing and conservation officer, said: “We will be greatly disappointed to lose the facade. We always thought it would have been stunning if it had been restored as a theatre.

“It’s an important part of our townscape and is one of the architect’s last surviving theatres.”

The imposing theatre was originally built as a music hall by Horsfall and Sons in 1909 with ornate decorative plasterwork and an auditorium capacity of 1,614 people.

The building was badly destroyed when a fire broke out during a production in January 1936.

It was substantially rebuilt with an Art Deco finish by Ronald Satchwell and today is one of the last surviving examples of his work.

Its programme of live variety shows continued to prove popular withfamilies.

John Lockwood, vice-chairman of Huddersfield Civic Society, said: “I went to see the shows in the 1940s when I was about eight. It was a bit of a family tradition and my grandparents would take me on a Saturday.

“I remember thinking it was a very grand building and that there was always a very good illusionist.

“It had all the well-known performers and was always busy, there was no TV and that was the entertainment.”

But as audience figures started to dwindle the theatre closed. It was then reopened in 1959 as a cabaret theatre.