The Royal Hippodrome

THE ROYAL HIPPODROME

Theatre built in 1883 by C J Phipps in Italianate style at a cost of £8,000. The box office and shops were altered in the 1930s, and some alterations from the 1970s were mainly reversed by restoration around 1990.

The exterior is symmetrical with a stuccoed front and hipped slate roof (two chimneystacks were later removed). The building is three storeys tall. The second floor has 7 bays, the first floor has 11 bays, and the ground floor was designed to incorporate four shops and three entrances. The top floor features a dentilled cornice and Tuscan pilasters. Other floors have panelled parapets and Composite pilasters. All windows are late 19th-century sashes with horns in moulded architraves, but with the addition of 1930s horizontal glazing bars. The ground floor has a metal canopy supported on eight large cast iron brackets with central decorative cast iron scrollwork; this was not part of the original design but was added soon afterwards following criticism in the local press. Entrances now have 1930s panelled doors. Three 1930s wooden shopfronts with wooden fanlights survive, although the shopfront to the left was later removed.

The foyer has a round-headed entrance arch with stylised capitals and smaller identical arches leading to the Stalls and Dress Circle. The Box Office window dates to the 1930s with chrome surround and 1930s lettering to the glass. A staircase to the right features a mahogany handrail and a section of gilded balusters at the top.

The auditorium has a panelled proscenium arch supported on two stage boxes. The upper boxes feature partly fluted Composite columns and a bowed box; the lower boxes are piers with anthemion motifs and swags to panels. The upper box and mouldings were restored to the original design around 1990 following alterations of the 1970s. A flat circular ceiling features a large ceiling rose with plaster mouldings of shell and floral motifs and ribs. Two horseshoe balconies, each supported on six slender iron columns by C W Grove of Leamington, rise above. The stall columns are plain, while the Dress Circle columns have plumed capitals and central floral design. Arches on square piers with decorated capitals at the back of the Dress Circle lead to a circulation area supported on two Composite cast iron columns. The Dress Circle Bar, one of three surviving, was redecorated around 1990. Stalls and Balcony seats are of traditional style; Dress Circle seats date to the mid-20th century. The original stage with orchestra pit remains extant but is boarded over. The fly floors are original, as are the wooden hooks for hanging the hemps. One Dressing Room (Clark) retains original reeded boarding to ceiling and walls and a cast iron fireplace.

Originally called the Theatre Royal, the name was changed to the Royal Hippodrome in 1904. A manager's flat originally existed but no longer remains. The theatre is one of the earliest Variety theatres remaining in the country, and most of the famous Variety and Vaudeville artistes from the 1880s onwards have performed here.