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68-678: The Floral Pavilion Theatre is a theatre in the seaside town of New Brighton , on the Wirral Peninsula in England. Situated on the promenade overlooking the River Mersey , it presents a mix of comedy, music and children's shows including a Christmas pantomime . The original theatre opened in 1913 as an open-air summer theatre within the Victoria Gardens. In 1925 it was covered by an iron and glass roof and during

136-726: A Morrisons supermarket and The Light , which is an 8-screen digital multiplex cinema . Other attractions include the Riverside Bowl bowling alley , the LaserQuest centre, the Art Deco New Palace amusement arcade (which includes a small fairground) and the Floral Pavilion Theatre ; which was rebuilt in 2008 as a first phase of the town's regeneration, and accommodates a conference centre . Significant investment has also been made in

204-519: A bear pit , monkeys, elephants, stags, leopards and other animals. There was also an aviary above the ballroom. The Tower Building also contained a shooting gallery and a billiard saloon with five tables. Maxwell and Tuke clothed the entertainment buildings in hard-wearing, red Ruabon brick with terracotta and stone dressings, and the plan of the buildings was octagonal, with the Tower, also built on an octagonal plan, at its centre. The roofline of

272-591: A fire in 1969. Ferries across the Mersey to New Brighton ceased in 1971, after which the ferry pier and landing stage were dismantled. By 1977, the promenade pier had suffered the same fate. In 1986, the area became the subject of Martin Parr 's famous and controversial photographic book The Last Resort . New Brighton is at the northeastern corner, and most northerly point, of the Wirral Peninsula, at

340-551: A football team, New Brighton Tower F.C. , and applied for membership to the Lancashire League . The team joined at the start of the 1897–98 season and promptly won the league. The club then applied for election to the Football League . Although they were initially rejected, the league later decided to expand Division Two by four clubs and New Brighton Tower were accepted. They carried on playing until 1901 when

408-474: A free-to-enter annual event, was held on open ground off the King's Parade at New Brighton. In 2009 it was announced that after 33 years, The Wirral Show was to be axed. A sailing school, which used the refurbished marine lake, closed in 2015. Musically, New Brighton first came to national prominence when Granville Bantock , later to be knighted as one of Britain's most prolific composers, took over leadership of

476-433: A good beach. His aim was to develop it as a desirable residential and watering place for the gentry, in a similar way to Brighton , one of the most elegant seaside resorts of that Regency period – hence "New Brighton". Substantial development began soon afterwards, and housing began to spread up the hillside overlooking the estuary – a former gunpowder magazine being closed down in 1851. During

544-405: A large dome on a drum. Nicknamed the "Dome of Home" by returning sailors, the church closed in 2008, before reopening in 2011. The Black Pearl Pirate Ship is a community art installation situated on the beach near Tower Grounds. A replica of a three-masted pirate man-of-war , it is almost entirely constructed from salvaged materials and driftwood found on the beach. Unusually for an artwork it

612-616: A motorcycling stunt when a 10-foot (3.0 m) wide section of stands collapsed, causing the spectators to fall 15 feet (4.6 m) to the ground. On 15 May 1919 a fire destroyed the grandstand. During the Second World War , the United States Army took over the Tower Athletic Grounds as a storage facility for military vehicles to be used in the invasion of France. Following the war the stadium

680-503: A recreational amenity in its own right, and to link up the developments along the estuary, and was later extended westwards towards Leasowe , making it the longest in the UK. The River Mersey and the resort were described by the diarist Francis Kilvert in 1872 as: "crowded with vessels of all sorts moving up and down the river, ships, barques, brigs, brigantines, schooners, cutters, colliers, tugs, steamboats, lighters, "flats", everything from

748-586: A semi-permanent landmark on the seafront attracting thousands of visitors a year and national media attention. There are brass band concerts every week during the summer months in Vale Park . New Brighton is part of the Wallasey parliamentary constituency and represented by Angela Eagle MP, of the Labour Party who retained her seat in the 2019 general election. New Brighton is an electoral ward of

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816-400: A ticket for the summer season, costing 10s 6d) was charged for entrance into the grounds, which included the gardens, the athletic grounds, the ballroom and the theatre. An additional charge of sixpence was levied on those who wished to go to the top of the tower. There was a menagerie within the building, containing Nubian lions , Russian wolves (which had eight cubs in 1914), bears in

884-470: Is a coastal defence battery built between 1825 and 1829, with the foundation stone being laid in 1826. It was built to protect the Port of Liverpool and proposed as a fortified lighthouse to replace the old Perch Rock Light, however a separate lighthouse was built. The fort was built on an area known as Black Rock, and was cut off at high tide. However, coastal reclamation has made it fully accessible. It

952-402: Is currently closed. New Brighton Lighthouse was originally known as Perch Rock Lighthouse. Construction of the present structure began in 1827 though a light had been maintained on the rock since 1683. It was designed by John Foster Jr. , on the lines of Eddystone , and built by Tomkinson & Company using marble rock from Anglesey . New Brighton has two recognisable churches dominating

1020-447: Is the focus for many other activities, mainly as a children's play structure, but also as a mock-up vessel for RNLI exercises, wedding ceremonies and as a popular subject for photography. Originally constructed in 2013 by local artists Major Mace and Frank Lund, it has been damaged by both arson and storms and has been continuously maintained and reconstructed by its creators and local volunteers since then. The 'ship' has now become

1088-602: The Irish Sea to the Isle of Man , along with views of the Lake District and Welsh Mountains. In its first year, the tower attracted up to half a million visitors to the top. At night, the tower was illuminated by fairy lights. On 7 September 1909, two visitors were left stranded at the top of the tower as the final lift car of the night descended without them. The woman and twelve-year-old child were not noticed during

1156-471: The Mersey Estuary . The Perch Rock battery was completed in 1829. It mounted 18 guns, mostly 32-pounders, with 3 6-inch guns installed in 1899. Originally cut off at high tide, coastal reclamation has since made it fully accessible. In 1830, a Liverpool merchant, James Atherton , purchased 170 acres (69 ha) of land at Rock Point, which enjoyed views out to sea and across the Mersey and had

1224-515: The Second World War , they used the Tower Theatre to show their own roadshows to the troops. The tower's grounds were enclosed by iron railings, and throughout the gardens the roads and paths were illuminated with 30,000 red, white and green fairy lights at night. The tower's grounds had a band stand, a dancing platform, a fountain, seal pond and tennis courts. The gardens were separated into wooded areas, rockeries and flower beds. There

1292-642: The Tower Athletic Ground , with a capacity of 80,000. The owners of the New Brighton Tower, a seaside attraction built to rival the Blackpool Tower , recognised a need to ensure winter profits, and had built a stadium adjacent to the tower. The football club was formed in 1896 to provide the entertainment, and joined the Lancashire League at the start of the 1897–98 season. After finishing as champions in their first season,

1360-504: The Wirral peninsula . It has sandy beaches which line the Irish Sea and mouth of the Mersey , and the UK's longest promenade . At the 2011 Census , the population was 14,859. Up to the nineteenth century, the area had a reputation for smuggling and wrecking , and secret underground cellars and tunnels are still rumoured to exist. It also had a strategic position at the entrance to

1428-588: The Bass Excursions, when fifteen trains would take 8,000–9,000 employees of Bass's Burton brewery on an annual trip to the seaside. The New Brighton Tower , the tallest in the country, was opened in 1900 but closed in 1919, largely due to lack of maintenance during World War I . Dismantling of the tower was complete by 1921. In 1908 a new Winter Gardens Theatre was opened initially just for stage plays but later also screening films. New Brighton's former open-air swimming pool, of Art Deco architecture,

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1496-752: The Dominoes also performed at the concert. The Beatles played at the venue 27 times, commemorated in a blue plaque erected in New Brighton in 2011. The only British venue The Beatles played at more often was the Cavern Club . Little Richard and the Rolling Stones also performed at the Tower Building. On 30 May 1898 the Tower Theatre was opened, sited between the legs of the tower. Capable of accommodating an audience of 2,500, it

1564-559: The Libertines and there is also the song "A Day Out in New Brighton" on the " Delivery " CD single by Babyshambles . Also the band Jegsy Dodd and the sons of Harry Cross had a track on their 1986 Winebars & Werewolves album called "Who Killed New Brighton". The bandstand situated in Vale Park is a popular outdoor music venue, hosting a variety of acts, typically an orchestra or choir every Sunday. In more recent times,

1632-479: The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, which is itself a district of the metropolitan county of Merseyside. Typical of a seaside resort, New Brighton has a wide range of visitor attractions and facilities adjoining the beach. These focus on the £60m Marine Point Leisure and Retail development, which opened in 2011. This includes a 66-bedroom Travelodge hotel, a range of cafe bars and restaurants,

1700-550: The New Brighton Tower concert band. Instead of continuing with the usual populist programme of dances and marches, Bantock set about transforming it into a professional orchestra. Unusually for the time, the orchestra performed modern classical music and would champion contemporary composers, even daringly devoting entire programmes to an individual composer's music. In return, many leading lights of contemporary British music, including Stanford , Parry , Corder , Mackenzie and Elgar , came to New Brighton to conduct and perform, and

1768-570: The New Brighton orchestra became nationally respected for the remaining period of Bantock's tenure. The Beatles performed at the Tower Ballroom, at the site of the old New Brighton Tower, 27 times. Aside from the famous Cavern Club in their native Liverpool , The Beatles played there more frequently than any other location in the United Kingdom. The pop concert New Brighton Rock was held over two days: 21 and 22 May 1984 at

1836-418: The United Kingdom except the Cavern Club in nearby Liverpool . In 1830, James Atherton purchased much of the land at Rock Point, in the north-east corner of Wallasey opposite the city and docks of Liverpool. He renamed it New Brighton and organised its development as a tourist destination. In July 1896 a new group, the New Brighton Tower and Recreation Company, with a share capital of £300,000, purchased

1904-462: The ballroom remained. The metal was sold to scrap dealers. The tower was the tallest structure to be demolished in the UK until 7 September 2016, when a taller chimney at Grain Power Station was demolished. On 5 April 1969 the ballroom was destroyed by fire, the cause of which is unknown. In place of the tower's grounds, including the athletics ground and stadium, a new housing estate

1972-616: The ballroom was completely destroyed by fire in 1956, but it was restored in its original style and reopened two years later. On 10 November 1961, The Beatles played for an audience of 4,000 people at the New Brighton Tower Ballroom as the headline act of a five-and-a-half-hour concert named Operation Big Beat. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes , Gerry and the Pacemakers , Remo Four and Kingsize Taylor and

2040-402: The bandstand has hosted music to a much younger generation and popular throughout the summer. It has been an ideal platform for local bands wanting to gain recognition. New Brighton Tower F.C. were an association football League club based in New Brighton which was disbanded in 1901. Like Liverpool , Chelsea and Thames , New Brighton Tower were formed to play at an already-built stadium,

2108-584: The club were elected to the Second Division of the Football League when the League was expanded by four clubs. The team were very poorly supported, often averaging gates of 1,000. The club signed a number of new players, including some who had played international football, and was reasonably successful, finishing 5th (out of 18) in its first season, and 4th in their third season. However,

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2176-628: The coast and then around it to Birkenhead. The B5143 joins New Brighton with Liscard. New Brighton railway station is located on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. The station has a return service to Liverpool every 15 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytime, and a half-hourly service at other times. Until 1971, New Brighton had a landing stage for the Mersey Ferry . New Brighton Tower New Brighton Tower

2244-523: The company disbanded the team as they did not gain the fan base they were hoping for and so it was no longer considered financially viable. The Tower Athletic Grounds was a multi-purpose stadium and ground that could be laid out for athletics field events. The field was encircled by an athletics track surrounded by a banked cycle track, which hosted the World Cycling championships in July 1922. It

2312-540: The complex also provides for conference facilities and a large multi-purpose lounge area. This article about a theatre building in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . New Brighton, Merseyside New Brighton is a seaside resort and suburb of Wallasey , in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside , England, at the northeastern tip of

2380-444: The cost of maintaining a professional football club became too high for the Tower's owners, and the club was disbanded in the summer of 1901, and replaced in the League by Doncaster Rovers . In 1921, a new club was formed, New Brighton A.F.C. , who would also play in the Football League from 1923 until 1951. New Brighton is one of the smallest settlements ever to have a Football League club, although it generally classed as part of

2448-428: The dances before taking to the main floor. It was decorated in white and gold with emblems of Lancashire towns, and had balcony seating for spectators. The composer Granville Bantock was enlisted as musical director in 1897 at the ballroom to provide music each weekday for six hours of ballroom dancing. To begin with, as the tower was being erected, he was in charge of a "semi-military band" that played outdoors with

2516-597: The dancing platform. In 1908 the 'Himalaya Railway' was replaced with a scenic railway. An area was set aside within the grounds for athletics , aptly named the Tower Athletic Ground. It consisted of a stadium opened in 1896; the hope was to provide additional entertainment for visitors to the tower in the winter months. The capacity of the grounds varied, but at one point was as high as 100,000, although attendances rarely, if ever, approached that figure. The New Brighton Tower and Recreation Company formed

2584-414: The deaths of six workmen and serious injury to another. Two of the men, Jonathan Richardson and Alexander Stewart, were killed when a crane hook snapped and a girder fell and hit the scaffold platform on which they were standing, causing them to fall to the ground. A third man, John Daly, suffered serious injuries. The other four were killed in separate incidents by falling off the tower structure. A fire on

2652-534: The estate of the demolished Rock Point House. Their ambition was to create an observation tower in the grounds, designed to rival the Blackpool Tower , while using the remaining grounds to create a more "elegant" atmosphere. The New Brighton Tower and Recreation Company had more than 20 acres (8 ha) of land available to construct the tower, which enabled them to include more attractions than at Blackpool Tower. The company Maxwell and Tuke , who had designed Blackpool Tower buildings and Southport Winter Gardens ,

2720-482: The fear that the tower might fall upon him and his players. Bantock is quoted as saying, "The noise of the riveting of the tower while we were playing ... reminded me of the anvil music in Das Rheingold ". Bantock often played for the workmen during their lunch breaks, when they could frequently be heard saying, "play it again, guv'nor". Soon, Granville had a full orchestra at his disposal, so he convinced

2788-427: The final round of inspection and so, without a way to communicate with anyone on the ground, they spent the night on the tower until 10 am the following morning. They did not appear too concerned by the ordeal and left without giving their names to officials. The ballroom had a sprung floor and dance band stage. It could accommodate more than a thousand couples dancing and had a separate area for couples to learn

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2856-569: The formation of the new company, completion of land purchase and announcement of contracts on 26 July 1896. The construction of the steel lattice tower started in July 1897 and was completed some time between 1898 and 1900, 5 years after the Blackpool Tower had been finished. The grounds were opened before then for a short period in 1897 however. New Brighton Tower was the tallest building in England, standing 567 feet (173 m) tall, and 621 feet (189 m) above sea-level. A total of 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of mild or low-carbon steel

2924-459: The green dome of the church from the Mersey. After the Second World War , the popularity of New Brighton as a seaside resort declined dramatically. However, the Tower Ballroom continued as a major venue, hosting numerous concerts in the 1950s and 1960s by local Liverpool groups such as the Beatles as well as other international stars. The Tower Ballroom continued in use until it was destroyed by

2992-477: The huge emigrant liner steamship with four masts to the tiny sailing and rowing boat ... At New Brighton there are beautiful sands stretching for miles along the coast and the woods wave green down to the salt water's edge. The sands were covered with middle class Liverpool folks and children out for a holiday." From the 1880s until the First World War, New Brighton was one of the regular destinations for

3060-556: The latter half of the nineteenth century, New Brighton developed as a very popular seaside resort serving Liverpool and the Lancashire industrial towns, and many of the large houses were converted to inexpensive hotels. Designed by the noted architect of seaside structures Eugenius Birch , the New Brighton Pier opened in 1867 and the promenade from Seacombe to New Brighton was completed by 1901. This served both as

3128-407: The management committee to allow him to give classical concerts on Fridays and Sundays. He then embarked on advanced concerts of new composers, as well as his own works. As he had difficulty finding time to practise these works, Bantock used afternoon sessions, in which he was supposed to play dance music, to rehearse his classical pieces. When the classical pieces spread to the afternoon programme,

3196-511: The management felt it was not commercially viable to continue the concerts. After three years at the tower, Bantock was appointed Principal of the School of Music at Birmingham and Midland Institute . The composer Edward Elgar conducted his Enigma Variations at the New Brighton Tower Ballroom in 1898, the second time he performed the piece. In 1900 he conducted Tchaikovsky 's Pathétique symphony at New Brighton Tower. The interior of

3264-450: The metal was sold for scrap. The building at its base, housing the Tower Ballroom, continued its use until damaged by fire in 1969. The tower was set in large grounds, which included a boating lake , a funfair , gardens , and a sports ground . The sports ground housed, at different times, a football team, an athletics track and a motorcycle speedway track. The Beatles played at the Tower Ballroom 27 times, more than at any other venue in

3332-598: The mid-1960s it was largely rebuilt, with a full metal roof. The theatre closed in 2007 and was demolished as part of the town's £60 million Neptune Project redevelopment plans. The building was rebuilt to a new design and reopened in December 2008. The first act to perform at the venue after reopening was Ken Dodd , who has had a long association with the Floral Pavilion, making his first appearance in 1940. As well as an enlarged theatre auditorium, seating over 800,

3400-475: The public realm, with particular highlights being the model boating lake and promenade . Well known coffee chains Starbucks and Costa coffee were built in New Brighton, becoming an attraction to a lot more people. Mexican restaurant chain Chimichanga was also built and added to the cultural attraction, to this day, more high-profile chains are added to the growing culture of New Brighton. The Wirral Show,

3468-628: The skyline and visible from the River Mersey . On Victoria Road, the Anglican St James Church by Sir George Gilbert Scott notable for its thin broach spire and a polygonal apse. It now incorporates the New Brighton Visitors Centre. St Peter and Paul's Roman Catholic Church at the top of Atherton Street, completed in 1935, is a prominent Grade II listed building in the Roman Gesu style, featuring

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3536-535: The three-to-four-storey building was dramatic, as four corners of the octagon were emphasised by tall pavilions with steeply pitched roofs topped by cupolas The tower had four lifts , each capable of reaching the top in 90 seconds and conveying up to 2000 people an hour. The views from the top included the Liverpool skyline, the River Mersey estuary and the River Dee . On a clear day, visitors could see across

3604-534: The tower at 172 feet (52 m) in 1898 resulted in the death of a fire-fighter from the New Brighton Fire Brigade. He fell 90 feet (27 m) while walking along a beam 6-inch (150 mm) wide to try and extinguish the flames. New Brighton Tower regularly advertised itself as "the highest structure and finest place of amusement in the Kingdom". A single entrance fee of one shilling (or

3672-775: The town of Wallasey . New Brighton Football Club (R.U.) are a rugby union team now based in Moreton . They currently play in South Lancs/Cheshire 1 in the English rugby union system . The club was formed in New Brighton in 1875 and has been based at several grounds over the years. The main road through New Brighton is the A554 . This road starts in Bidston, passing beneath the M53 motorway at Junction 1, heading towards

3740-485: The town's open-air swimming pool and transmitted by Granada Television on 23 June 1984 on ITV . It featured many musical artists of the day including Frankie Goes to Hollywood , Gloria Gaynor , Madness , Nik Kershaw and Spandau Ballet . A strain was placed on local police resources due to an ongoing commitment to the 1984–85 miners' strike . Nevertheless, the event was covered by Merseyside Police 's Wirral Division. A song about New Brighton called "New Brighton"

3808-471: The traditional start of the summer season. As was common at fairgrounds of the time, there was a Bioscope exhibition showing the latest wartime pictures to audiences of up to 2,000. In the summer of 1907 there was a Hale's Tours of the World exhibition in the tower's grounds, consisting of short films shown in a stylised railway carriage with sound effects and movements at the appropriate times. The tower

3876-440: The western side of the mouth of the River Mersey . The Irish Sea is to the north. New Brighton lies on quite a steep hillside; the marine lake and lighthouse are at sea level while, less than 600 m (660 yd) away, St Peter and St Paul's Church sits on a promontory at 48 m (157 ft) above sea level. The 6.4 km (4 mi)-long North Wirral Coastal Park is between New Brighton and Meols . Fort Perch Rock

3944-538: Was a lake in the grounds, which had a 130-foot (40 m) water chute and gondolas with Venetian gondoliers. There were also a number of venues providing refreshments, including a Japanese restaurant that could cater for up to 700 people, the Parisian Tea Garden, the Rock Point Castle restaurant, which could accommodate 400 people, and an Algerian café. At the grounds of the tower there

4012-416: Was a large permanent funfair, with rides including Figure of Eight, Wall of Death , Donkey Derby, The Himalayan Switchback Railway and The Caterpillar. To give easy access from the promenade entrance to the tower, a chair lift was introduced. In 1898–99 an acrobat named Hardy performed for a season at the tower without a safety net and often without a balancing pole on the high wire 100 feet (30 m) above

4080-607: Was a steel lattice observation tower at New Brighton in the town of Wallasey , Cheshire (now in the Borough of Wirral , in Merseyside ), England. It stood 567 feet (173 m) high, and was the tallest building in Great Britain when it opened some time between 1898 and 1900. Neglected during the First World War and requiring renovation the owners could not afford, dismantling of the tower began in 1919, and

4148-453: Was closed in 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War , for the duration of which the steel structure was not maintained and consequently became rusty. During the war the government made unsuccessful attempts to buy the tower for its metal. Controversy still surrounds the decision to dismantle the tower after the war ended; some still believe the structure was safe and could have been repaired. Demolition began in 1919 and by 1921 only

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4216-485: Was included on the 1992 album Song by Liverpool-based group It's Immaterial . The music video for the 1993 K-Klass single "Let Me Show You" was partly filmed in New Brighton. In 1996, Wallasey Brit-pop band the Boo Radleys released the C'mon Kids album. Track 9 on the album was an atmospheric and nostalgic song called "New Brighton Promenade". New Brighton is briefly mentioned in the song "Radio America" by

4284-540: Was opened on 13 June 1934 by Viscount Leverhulme . When it was built, it was the largest lido in Britain, at a cost of £90,000. The saltwater pool survived until 1990, when it was damaged during a storm and later demolished. Built in 1935, St Peter and St Paul's Church in Atherton Street is still a landmark. In the Second World War , sailors used to recognise they were close to home when they could see

4352-637: Was reopened as the home ground for New Brighton A.F.C. , whose Sandheys Park had been requisitioned for housing. They sold it to the Wallasey Housing Corporation in 1977. In 1900, New Brighton Tower athletic grounds boasted the UK's first visit from a group known as The Ashanti Village, in which 100 West African men, women and children re-created an Ashanti village, produced and sold their wares and performed "war tournaments, songs [and] fetish dances". Although they had arrived, delays meant that they were not set up in time for Whitsun

4420-464: Was responsible for overseeing and supervising the project, despite the deaths in 1893 of the company founders, James Maxwell and William Charles Tuke. The excavations and laying of the foundations for the tower were contracted to William Clapham of Stockport. The primary contractor for the tower was Andrew Handyside and Company , based in Derby . The ground breaking happened on 22 June 1896, before

4488-515: Was the biggest sporting and motorcycling track in the North of England. In 1933, the athletics track was replaced for use every Saturday by motorcycle speedway racing. Disaster struck the motorcycling in 1911 when T. Henshaw's bike struck six spectators at around 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). This left Henshaw with serious fractures and one woman with a severe brain injury. In another incident on 18 May 1959 five people were injured while watching

4556-469: Was the largest theatre in England outside London. Each season at the theatre was different; some years it would show a play or an opera, others it would focus on variety acts such as magicians, comedians and lion tamer Mademoiselle Marguerite, with her seven lions. Wrestling was hosted at the theatre as early as 1903, and had become a weekly event by 1937. When the Americans occupied the site during

4624-427: Was used, at a cost of £120,000, in contrast to the earlier Blackpool and Eiffel towers, both constructed using wrought iron . The building below the New Brighton Tower, which was to contain the ballroom, was constructed by Peters and Sons of Rochdale. It was a four-storey red-brick building with arched windows and hexagonal, copper-domed turrets. A series of accidents during the tower's construction resulted in

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