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HOW THE GRAND WAS SAVED

For the Grand Theatre centenary in 1994, Burt Briggs (1912-2004) our late-President, wrote this memoir of the campaign to save 'Matcham's Masterpiece'. It was first published in support of our Centenary Appeal.

I have been asked many times to write my story of the events leading up to the saving of The Grand Theatre from demolition. Now is the time to delve through my comprehensive files and put the story on record for The Grand's one hundredth year. Perhaps a little bit of background would help to answer why I was involved in the first place.

My grandfather came to Blackpool from Manchester in 1883 for his health. It was a good move; he died in 1931 aged 83. For fifteen years he held the lease of the Prince of Wales Baths, next to the Prince of Wales Theatre on the Promenade. Tom Sergenson had the lease of the theatre. When the Liverpudlian owners of the combined building caught a whiff of the development of Blackpool in 1892/93 they refused to extend the leases; their plan was to develop in keeping with the Tower, which was still under construction. So Sergenson began his Grand Theatre project and my grandfather went on to build fifteen theatres in Lancashire and buy two more; he had always hoped to have, as he called it, 'a round score', but the Great War put paid to that dream. I suppose I must have had an interest in the theatre from an early age as I was a frequent free patron of my grandfather's theatres. The theatres were always built in areas of high density population, in the Manchester area and adjacent towns. His thinking was to provide live theatre for the ordinary people who had supported his aqua-displays at the Prince of Wales Baths. He was right, and soon he was building six theatres in the south of Lancashire all at one time without much difficulty. But that's another tale.

The Grand was taken over by the Tower Company in the early nineteen hundreds, and when the original town centre scheme ¬including the demolition of The Grand Theatre - came off the drawing boards after the last war, there were strong objections from the Tower Company and from many of the business people in the area now known as the Hounds Hill Shopping Centre. These plans were eventually abandoned following a public inquiry in 1965.

In 1968 Buddy Burgess, the theatre critic, very kindly produced an article on my sentiments for making The Grand a civic theatre, after which I was able to produce frequent articles in the local papers to keep the matter in the eyes of the general public.

The topic raised its ugly head again after The Grand Theatre was closed in 1972. At the time I estimated the value of the building to be £300,000 to £350,000. Much was written and many thoughts were bandied about in the local press, and for the first time since 1968, more people made contact with me with offers of help.

Because The Grand was by now a listed building, an enquiry was set up and an Inspector called to consider all the evidence concerning plans for its demolition in April 1973. Peter Boydell, QC, offered to make himself available for the first three days of the inquiry on behalf of The Friends of The Grand Theatre group and his diligent research and thoughtful questioning, together with the co-operation of Cecil Henriques, QC, for the Fylde Arts Association, carried the day and the Minister refused listed building consent for demolition of The Grand on August 15th 1973. A fitting day for me to remember, as I had surfaced from a Prisoner of War Camp on the 15th August 1945.



Grand Theatre Foyer, 1894: Note grotto and mosaic floor. The building was listed in 1972.

After the news of our victory had been given by the Minister to our Secretary S G Lee and to EMI in London, we immediately informed the local press. That fine Blackpudlian and Editor in Chief Sir Harold Grime had coined the term 'The Friends of The Grand', and in his Gazette Opinion of August 15th 1973, he complimented us on our victory. His final comment was, 'One of the smartest pieces of local propaganda ever devised has succeeded triumphantly. Now, perhaps, this gallant and dedicated band of brothers and sisters will go one further in their successful campaign. They will answer the question that many thoughtful people will be asking today. What shall we do with The Grand and who will do it?'

From that day forth, we left no stone unturned in our efforts to persuade the Tower Company to open The Grand as a theatre. But we did not succeed. The Minister's action had put all the readers of the local paper onto one side or other of the debate, and for the next three years or so there was much correspondence about how to put The Grand back into service as a theatre.

In 1974 the Tower Company asked the Council for financial assistance to repair the dome and finials over the entrance. This application caused the Labour Party to request that a Notice of Repair should be served on the owners to make the renovations themselves. The Conservatives in power objected and the motion was lost. The Council claimed it would cost upwards of £1,000,000 to purchase the theatre. They also devised many new reasons for demolition and made several allegations as to the early collapse of finials, dome and other such appendages. This is the type of mistaken anxiety that always seems to be attached to theatres, yet the features are all still in place today.

Both the BBC and ITV produced programmes on the subject, which were deliberately edited to engineer controversy. Electronics is a wonderful technology sometimes used for the wrong purpose. I have complete transcriptions of all programmes and they make interesting reading when you realise that they were put together as though the principals were talking to each other, when in fact neither knew that the other's statement was already on tape.

The Chief Guest at the Mayor's Banquet in May 1974, Mr Barney Colehan, spoke very strongly on the subject of The Grand to great applause. After this public statement the Conservative Council about-turned and gave us their half-hearted support. A campaign called 'Save The Grand' was begun by Mrs Marjorie Nye and David Owen who had obtained the backing of many businesses and firms. The circular logo appeared in the Evening Gazette for several weeks and was very effective.

After a great deal of pressure the Corporation refused consent for the removal of the finials and the Tower Company responded by serving a Planning Act Notice on the Corporation requiring the Council to purchase the empty Grand Theatre.

In 1975 the Council invited us to meet them to discuss The Grand Theatre and the Town Clerk submitted an excellent report for consideration by both sides. The Tower Company then drew up plans to open the theatre after their proposed alterations had taken place. The Minister in London would not confirm the purchase order made by the Tower Company by suggesting that a hearing should be mounted to discuss all points. Typical bureaucratic nonsense as before. Correspondence unearthed in 1980 explained how the shops, which had always been part of the site, were opted out by an incautious statement in a letter to Sir Bernard Delfont dated 10 April 1975; I quote, 'and I presume this excludes the existing shops in Church Street'.

Towards the end of 1975, the Tower Company's plans for alteration were quite obviously a prelude to change of use to bingo. Again The Friends went into action and objected together with many supportive organisations and the application was refused by the Council. During the remainder of 1974 and most of 1975, discussions took place amongst EMI, the Corporation and The Friends, and eventually the thoughts of all homed in on the leasing of the theatre for £10,000 per annum and eventual purchase at a price of £200,000.

The first of our Royal blessings come from the Duke of Gloucester in April 1976; he was an architect and wished us success in our efforts. Full discussions took place in May 1976 amongst The Friends of The Grand, The Arts Council, North West Arts, Fylde Arts and the Blackpool Borough Council. The Arts Council undertook to finance a report by a theatre consultant on the state of the structure and its viability, in order that The Grand Theatre might be brought into use again. John Wyckham's comprehensive 47¬page report came to hand in September 1976. Our replies raised several points which were eventually agreed.

In November 1976, a Mr Peter Smith appeared on the scene from London with strict instructions to produce an answer to The Grand problem. He recounted to me that he had been advised to get to know The Friends of The Grand group, as he would have a better chance of getting somewhere if he could convince them of his genuine desire to help in finding a solution. After lengthy talks amongst A Burt Briggs, David Coupe, Marjorie Higham, John Hodgson, J K Ingham, S G Lee and W Geoffrey Thompson, Trustees of the newly set up Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust Ltd, it was agreed that we would not oppose the application for change of use to bingo provided that the EMI Company would rehabilitate the building according to the John Wyckham Report and overcome all the problems with regard to the granting of a new licence to the theatre.

So we were one step nearer to the dream of The Grand for Blackpool. We were allowed to use the theatre once a month for a type of Midnight Matinee on a Friday night. These were organised with dinner at the Clifton Hotel and then to the theatre for entertainment. These events were very successful and kept the spirit of theatre bubbling away for some three years. Bingo was not a success, and after the initial period of a week or so attendances were sufficient only to make the use of the stage necessary. When the three-year lease granted to EMI. Bingo ran out it was not renewed. There was now no problem in connection with the renewal of the theatre licence as all the alterations and fire precautions had been catered for by the extensive rehabilitation of the theatre by EMI.

Discussions took place with Lord Delfont and eventually we received notice that if we raised the cash for the deposit by June 1980 and paid the balance by September 30th that year, the freehold of the theatre would belong to the Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust Limited.

In this we were successful and The Grand Theatre came into the hands of the Trust on October 1st 1980, together with the ground on which were situated the shops on the Church Street frontage. These premises had been sold off to two Panamanian Companies with registered offices in Zurich for some £500,000 or more on a 999-year lease of one Peppercorn per annum. They are now owned by a British Insurance Group.

The peppercorn rents owed by the Group have not yet come home to roost, but perhaps some day we will receive a few corns in a suitably theatrical manner.



See our feature about Burt Briggs here.

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Handbill for the campaign to save the Grand Theatre from demolition, 1973