Hippodrome Demolished
Over the last two days the Derby Hippodrome has all but been demolished. News of the destruction was first reported on the Derby Evening Telegraph website and later the Theatres Trust website.It seems almost impossible to believe that any restoration work carried out on the site should primarily involve heavy demolition equipment. Indeed the Theatres Trust website report: Council staff and building inspectors were not present until this afternoon when many calls were made by concerned locals to The Theatres Trust and Derby City Council. Once on site they established that the contractors were using incorrect machinery to carry out repairs.
Theatres Trusts Urges Derby To be Vigilant
The Following is an excerpt from the Theatre Trusts website urging Derby People and the Derby City Council to remain vigilant:
As previously stated by the Trust, failure to obtain consent for works or demolition of a listed building is a criminal offence. Derby City Council can now take action against the owner including the serving of an enforcement notice to rebuild the theatre. Director of the Trust, Mhora Samuel said “The owners have adopted completely the wrong approach to repair Derby Hippodrome. This destruction demonstrates the vulnerability of historic theatres and buildings when owners breach listed building legislation.”
The Trust again urges local residents to remain vigilant and report any further activity on the site they see over the weekend to the Police on 0845 123 3333, Derby City Council Emergency 24 hour line Dangerous Structures on 01332 255 903 and The Theatres Trust on 07932 653 560.
March 29th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
we didn’t believe for a minute that this building would ever survive, especially not as a theatre. But this ludicrous story about trying to repair the roof with a demolition machine… Please - how stupid do they think we are?
March 29th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Stupid enough so that we will let them get away with it… just like the bus station, the playhouse, and the half arsed ring road that destroyed most of derbys georgian splendour and of course the Duke of Devonshires timber town house destroyed in the 60’s
Derbys politicians never change
March 29th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
don’t forget St Ann’s house or the Train Station… im so glad I no longer live in Derby and I can’t think of any compelling reason to ever move back
March 29th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Have to agree with your sentiments Mike… I’ve never lived in a city with a lower regard for its culture or history… add Elvaston Castle to that list too, strictly it’s in Derbyshire County but they are just as bad.
Still this is no great surprise, It was too big for the amateurs to fund and run and would have only had a future as a nightclub… might have been a good venue for a civic centre/community centre but after the closure of St Anns house that was never going to happen… still people of Derby Chris is buying you all a big wheel to take your minds off it all!
March 29th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I pray for the day that Derby gets swallowed up into the suburbs of nottingham… I’d even put up with the increase in gun crime just for the sake of not living in a cultural desert
March 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
No surprise here then… having worked in theatre architecture and design and also for a short period for a french demolitions company I feel pretty confident in saying none of the machinery I saw on display at the hippodrome was suitable for “restoration” work and I’d have to make a gigantic leap of faith to believe that “removing” anything structural in the roof or walls would have been a good first step… the entire structure should have been completely supported before anyone went near it with a junior hacksaw never mind a demolishers pincers Well done Derby another piece of your cultural and historic identity discarded forever!
March 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
“still people of Derby Chris is buying you all a big wheel to take your minds off it all!”
and then you can go round and round and round just like hamsters in a cage…
They’ll be wanting to knock down the Cathedral next to make way for the waterfronts project!
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I can’t see how the theatre can be saved now judging by the photos on this ‘urban exploration’ blog. Somebodies head should roll…
http://thenewmendoza.blogspot.com/2008/04/derby-hippodrome-what-state020408.html
April 4th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Chesty, there is no doubt the building CAN be saved - you have only to watch ‘Restoration’ or the recently repeated Grand Designs programme on the Peel Castle to see that as long as something remains a building can be rebuilt.
The real problem here is firstly the ownership of the building - owner clearly wants it gone - and secondly the cost. The amateurs had already found it difficult to raise the money when the building was still intact. It will take a big campaign and a lot of money to save it (if the High Court grants the injunction).
But it is not impossible. The people of Derby are clearly incensed at what has happened. Let’s see if finally we have turned a corner in the destruction of Derby’s heritage and can save two theatres.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:47 am
LIke Martin I don’t think this buildng would ever have been viable for the amateurs.. it’s not exactly as manageable DSC “Shakespeare House”
Would it have been good enough for a modern theatre building though?
April 4th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Jess… i’m sure it would have needed some renovation, i’ve never seen photos of the backstage facilities. The auditorium no doubt would have needed some work to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act and to make it more comfortable for taller contemporary audiences… If you have ever watched a long play in an old theatre and are over 6feet tall it can get quite painful, even the Playhouse seats can get painful for me during a long play!
Does it have to be a theatre? I’m sure a creative enough mind could have turned the Hippodrome into a office space, business centre, shopping arcade, the list is endless… hey they could have even turned it into a visual arts and film centre and called it something like the hexagon, triangle or… quad!
April 16th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Watching the first offering of ITV’s Britain’s got Talent, Saturday April 12th, I was impressed by quality of the successful amateur acts. The huge popularity of this television series proves beyond any doubt that variety theatre has a great future in the UK.
The first edition of this year’s auditions was recorded at the Hackney Empire, an excellent example of an early 20th century Variety Palace. Built in 1901, and from the outset was also equipped to serve as a cinema.
Like so many theatres and cinemas, the Empire was converted into a bingo hall during the 1950s/60s; its owner, Mecca, had the original decorations painted over with their corporate colours, and had the seating removed from the back stalls to make room for a bar.
It is hard to believe, having seen its interior on the show that the Hackney Empire had faced demolition during the late 1970s, when despite being listed, a developer had started to demolish the theatre’s front entrance. According to the Theatres Trust, the developer was forced to carry out a re-build of the demolished parts using original and similar materials.
In 2004, with the help of lottery matched funding, the auditorium and stage areas were restored and the theatre is now one of London’s premiere independent performing arts venues, something that was considered as an unlikely outcome at the time of its restoration.
The Britain’s Got Talent TV show will be using a number of venues, similar to the Hackney Empire, for auditions around the country over the next few months; I doubt that Derby was, or ever will be considered for such events as it does not have an old style a theatre to equal the magnificence of its neighbouring cities’ old style theatres.
Photographs of Derby Hippodrome’s interior, taken just before the end of 2006, show a theatre very similar in all of its aspects to the Hackney Empire. Remember that the pundits and “experts” had assumed that the Empire could never succeed as a theatre, but were proved wrong. I believe Derby, as the only city in England without such a theatre, will be the loser here.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Hi Chris-
Can I just ask if your’e the same “Chris”from the DET Hippodrome
stories?
If so- I have really appreciated all your input and knowledge!
Sorry haven’t got much more to add, other than continuing dismay and horror at events unfolding….
PS- I’m Joanne, Derbys, on DET.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Joanne
The answer is yes. If anyone is interested in preserving our heritage and would like to learn more, May I suggest the following website as a starting point:
http://www.derbyheritageforum.co.uk/
April 17th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Thankyou Chris- good to hear from you!
There’s also a facebook site - I think it’s called Hippodrome Green Lane Derby(?) or maybe not in that order.
I will certainly look up the site you suggest- thanks.
I’ll look out for your comments on this site too.
Best wishes- Jo.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I walk past the Hippodrome almost every working day and was there on what has become known as “Black Friday” (28th March).
I would say that from Crompon Street, the damage looks pretty well terminal. However a more detailed examintion of the whole building shows that the Macklin Street side and most of the auditorium are intact. It will take some serious rebuilding work to restore the upper floors, the Fly Tower and the roof. Having spoken to a building contractor on this matter, I have been assured that there is no danger to the public unless they enter illegally, and most of the restoration would be needed to repair the damage caused over the past 12 to 15 months.
For those who claim Derby is too small for a theatre, including the Playhouse and the Hippodrome, they should ask why we have such a large shopping centre.
The audiences are there, and there is a national revival of drama and variety theatre in theUK, but at the moment we are losing audiences to places like Notingham and Birmingham where there is a great choice of both old and modern theatre venues
April 21st, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Chris- I totally agree.Please see the comments page on today’s DET story
re “arts” agenda pre election.(Look up Playhouse or Hippodrome- and it’s in the archive.)
Also, add Leicester to your list.The Curve Theatre is costing £60 million,
paid for by the local Council, ACEM, and the government.
Last week on “Inside Out”- BBC1-there was a discussion about Derby’s excessively low subsidy in the arts and theatre compared to other cities in the East Midlands.
Why has this always been the case?
Are Derbians judged to be less “cultural” than in Leicester?
This flies in the face of evidence of audience numbers at the Playhouse for decades.
Re the Hippodrome-I dread to think what the outcome will be.
Whatever it is, I suspect also that will have a knock on effect for the election results; I do hope they’re not just hanging on until the election is over….Do you think the Council genuinely care?
April 21st, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Joanne
I read the article in today’s paper but was unable to leave a comment on the web page as it closes down before I get home, you have made some very valid points.
Derby Live has made it into Private Eye! A work colleague showed me the copy. Derby is the butt of a big joke in an article headed “Derby Donkeys” in which Derby Live is slammed as a an un-coordinated mish-mash of ill conceived cultural events.
I hold out little hope for the Hippodrome, the demolition of which will a shameful indictment of our city council and of Derby. Every city in the UK has a Hippodrome style theatre, most of which were predicted to fail due to lack of support; all have proved a high level of success. You can’t just build one of these theatres, you either have one or you don’t, now Derby is likely to lose its Hippodrome so will be the only city in the UK without such a theatre,
Derby has a conference hall (the Assembly Rooms), a small but attractive converted Town Hall, a modern but unused Playhouse and a huge grey skip on top of a shopping centre, which serves as a multiplex cinema.
Cathedral Green will end up as an unofficial skateboard park, not the Minack style theatre that the council appears to believe they are creating.
Derby is slipping behind the rest of the UK and the politicians are doing nothing useful to prevent it – no amount of shops offices and flats will be a substitute for theatre and the performing arts.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Chris- you have echoed my thoughts and feelings 100%,and I’m sure many others on this site.
I’m so sorry I haven’t time to discuss further now, or the next 2 days.
But I will be looking out for your comments here and on facebook.
Be sure Chris- there are many like minded people in Derby and surrounds,
who are horribly dismayed by what is happening in Derby.
I just hope at the very least, some of us can stay in touch.