Tameside Hippodrome

Significance

Tameside Hippodrome is Ashton-under-Lyne’s only Grade II listed, purpose-built theatre. Its architectural significance illustrates the interwar fashion of adaption to cinema. It is a rare survival, retaining a wealth of Art Deco features from the 1930s re-fit, including the coving and plasterwork detail in the café and ground floor foyer. Recent research and careful measurement have revealed that the 1930s changes to the central portion of the façade were not as invasive as previously thought. The windows are, in fact, original to the 1904 building with the stained-glass design closely resembling an early design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It is believed that the entire 1904 brick façade is intact underneath.

Why is this theatre at risk?

Tameside Hippodrome has been on the Theatres at Risk Register since 2009.

The Hippodrome closed in 2008. A threat of demolition in 2009 was halted when the building was listed. A conditions survey was last completed in 2014 which showed considerable repair works are required. The theatre remains vacant and there are ongoing concerns about its deterioration, although repair works to the roof were carried out in 2024.

In 2020, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council added the Hippodrome to its list of assets for disposal. The conditions stipulate that acquisition proposals require a level of social and financial sustainability. While this could help provide a route for asset transfer to community ownership and onward to restoration and live performance use, the potentially wide scope of the conditions cast additional uncertainty around the theatre’s future.

Theatre potential

Tameside is included in the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s recently announced Culture Priority Places, which highlights areas of deprivation, community need and historic low engagement with the arts.

The auditorium retains its core form and equipment, and the theatre is capable of being returned to live performance use following phased restoration.

Current situation

Theatres Trust remains in regular contact with the council over its plans to dispose of the Hippodrome.

A local group has been campaigning for the theatre with the ambition to upgrade and refurbish it to its former glory. In 2020, the group set up Ashton Empire and Hippodrome (Building) Ltd, a private company limited by guarantee with the aim that this company could take a Community Asset Transfer of the building from the council, carry out the necessary works to restore the theatre, and be responsible for the maintenance of the building fabric.

In 2023, Ashton Empire Hippodrome (Building) Ltd was awarded £5k through our Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities programme to strengthen the governance of the group and map out the steps the group needed to take its vision for the building forward. Since then, the group has been continuing with its organisational development work, including creating a business plan and community engagement work, to create a viable future for the building. We also supported the group through the Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities Skills Bank to develop its fundraising strategy.  

£400k has been allocated by Tameside Council, including funding from an Economic Development and Regeneration Flexible Grant, towards feasibility works, conditions survey and asbestos removal to facilitate future use of the theatre. This represents the first major public investment in the Hippodrome in more than twenty years and provides a defined starting point for stabilisation and a phased potential restoration. Further funding, planning, and partnership development will be required to complete the full programme of works.

Theatres Trust will continue to provide advice and support to both the community group and the council to see this important theatre reopened for the people of Ashton-Under-Lyne and wider local area.

Main photo Tameside Hippodrome, Theatres Trust. Internal photos Tameside Hippodrome, Tim Abram Photos