Metropole Theatre (Birmingham)

• Theatre ID
  848
• Built / Converted
  1885
• Dates of use
  • 1885 - 1941
• Current state
  Demolished
• Current use
  demolished (probably little stage use after 1911; ceased to advertise 1939)
• Address
  Snow Hill, Birmingham, West Midlands, England

Details

Opening in 1885 as the New Star Theatre of Varieties, it was described as being built of red bricks with ‘white facings’ (? stone dressings). It seems to have had two balconies. Having been refused a theatre licence, it opened as a music hall, but was radically reconstructed as a theatre in 1886. A contemporary description suggests that it had a ‘dished’ pit and stalls to improve sightlines at the sides and in the promenades. In 1903 it was elaborately redecorated but with no significant physical changes. Converted for movies in 1911 it probably had only sporadic live use afterwards. It ceased to advertise during 1939, was demolished in 1951 and a YMCA was built on the site.

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• Other names
  New Star Theatre of Varieties, Queens Theatre & Opera House, Metropole
• Events
  • 1885 - 1941 Use:
  • 1885 Design/Construction: as a music hall
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1886 Alteration: rebuilt as a theatre; grid raised
    • Oliver Essex - Architect
  • 1889 Alteration: alterations
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1911 Alteration: converted for films and stage plays, later mainly cinema
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1885 Design/Construction:
    • George Clarke - Consultant: Stage
    • Watson & Page - Consultant: Scenery
  • 1885 Owner/Management: W R Inshaw, proprietor
  • 1886 Owner/Management: Andrew Melville, proprietor
  • 1893 Owner/Management: Clarence Sounes, lessee
  • 1903 Owner/Management: Walter Melville, proprietor
  • 1905 Owner/Management: Andrew Melville Robbins, owner
  • 1911 Owner/Management: Montague Beaudyn & J P Moore, lessees
  • 1951 - 0 Demolition: demolished
• Capacities
  • Original: 2900
  • Later: 1908: 3000+ 1912: 3500
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Stage type
  • sprinklers and water curtain
• Dimensions
  • Building dimensions: 1885 l: 129ft w: 60ft
  • Stage dimensions: 1885 d: 40ft w: 70ft 1912 d: 45ft w: 60ft
  • Proscenium width: 1885 c.35ft 1912 w: 28ft h: 24ft
  • Height to grid: 1912 50ft
  • Inside proscenium: 1885 c.58ft
• Unreliable anecdotes
  Salberg in ‘Ring Down the Curtain’ states the theatre became the Metropole in 1886. It was said to have been bombed in 1941 but this cannot at present be confirmed.