Tameside Hippodrome

Theatre and cinema on Oldham Road, Ashton under Lyne. Built in 1904 as the Empire Hippodrome with original architect J J Alley. Substantially refurbished in 1933 as cinema and theatre in Art Deco style by the architects Drury and Gomersall. Constructed in red brick with slate roof.

The exterior presents a two-storey façade on Oldham Road in English garden wall bond with a hipped roof and central gable. Three structural bays are defined, with a slightly projecting central bay topped by a modern triangular pediment. The outer bays retain original parapets terminating in ball finials. The first floor of the outer bays features large paired windows set in slight recess with stone sills and lintels, dentil bands at the head of recesses and across the façade at sill level, and a band course above. Original window apertures contain 1930s metal frames and glazing with fan-patterning to the upper lights. The central bay is rendered and painted blue, with four first-floor windows. Outer windows retain original apertures with 1930s frames, whilst narrower inner windows date entirely from the 1930s refit, when they flanked a central projecting fin now removed. A modern band course runs in line with the original, with modern signage above. The ground floor has a wide central entrance of four modern glazed and timber double doors beneath a modern canopy with central triangular pediment and signage. Original shop fronts flanking the entrance have been infilled and the outer bays tiled with modern timber pilasters and entablature. A circular Tameside Metropolitan Council blue plaque celebrates 100 years of entertainment at the Tameside Hippodrome (1904–2004).

The interior features a substantially intact double-height auditorium refurbished in 1933 with a single balcony and original deep stage. The proscenium arch is surrounded by richly moulded plaster. The auditorium is canted to either side of the stage with geometric pierced organ grilles capped by sunbursts. The balcony front displays clean curved lines with horizontal grooves and is cantilevered to allow uninterrupted sightlines from the stalls. The 1933 Art Deco decorative plasterwork throughout includes pilasters with sunburst capitals at stall level and fluted pilasters at circle level, geometric friezes with anthemion motifs at circle level, shell niches with concealed lighting, cornices, ceiling plasterwork, and ventilators. To the rear of the stage are two levels of dressing rooms opening off corridors that run across the building, together with other ancillary rooms. An original actors' entrance off Cotton Street retains the stage door office. Access beneath the stage area preserves original heavy fire doors. Modern breeze-block dressing rooms inserted in a former electrical room to the rear are not of special interest. The foyer retains the 1933 compartmented and deeply coffered ceiling with wavy and geometric plasterwork. The box office counter is a modern insertion. The first floor above the foyer was entirely remodelled in the 1933 refit. The cafeteria, now the theatre bar, contains a geometric frieze and wavy cornice. Bar fixtures and fittings are modern. The crush lounge features a canted ceiling and Art Deco details including a geometric frieze, door architraves, and a glazed and timber screen with double doors.

The theatre opened as the Empire Hippodrome on 21 November 1904. It was built for William Henry Broadhead and Sons and formed part of the north-western Broadhead Circuit. Originally equipped with a three-tier auditorium, it hosted many famous music hall stars. In 1933 the building was sold to the Union Cinema Group. The auditorium was completely reconstructed in Art Deco style by Drury and Gomersall, who removed the gallery and private boxes and installed a single 600-seat circle. It reopened on 4 November 1933 as The New Empire for films and variety shows. In 1935 Drury and Gomersall redesigned the façade with a curved entrance canopy and tall rectangular pediment with a central curved fin. In the late 1930s it was acquired by Associated British Cinemas (ABC), who operated it until 1974. It was subsequently leased and then purchased in 1983 by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.