Theatre Royal

Built in 1791 by Mrs Baker (who died in 1815) for her Company, the theatre was altered in 1842, in 1846 when it was acquired by Henry Thornton and again, apparently, in 1851 after his death in that year. It continued as a theatre under the name of The Lyceum until 1894.

The theatre originally had a plain five-bay façade with simple cornice and parapet and a Classical porch extending over the full depth of the public footway. What is seen today is the red brick and stone, late nineteenth century façade of the Conservative Club, flanked by Georgian houses. The club lost part of the depth of its own porch in the widening of Star Hill.

Behind the façade there is an altered fabric, whose joinery details suggest that substantial parts of the dwelling-house attached to the theatre may still remain.

The rectangular brick extension at the rear looks, in external views, very like the shell of an eighteenth century theatre, but there is nothing visible internally of a date earlier than the late nineteenth century and many alterations clearly date from the 1980s. There is a small auditorium with stage, but it has more of the character of a church hall than a theatre. A modern suspended ceiling conceals the roof construction.