WikiWirral values you and your opinion.
Forum Statistics
Forums65
Topics76,347
Posts1,033,259
Members14,550
Most Online16,551
Feb 2nd, 2024
Who's Online Now
10 members (3 invisible), 9,938 guests, and 924 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters
sunnyside 45,164
MattLFC 22,315
Mark 21,269
granny 17,788
_Ste_ 16,345
Newest Members
JohnC, Luke2307, jharwood, TamTam, mrbigglesworth
14,550 Registered Users
New General Forums
Do we need Trident?
by derekdwc - 20th Jan 2016 1:11pm
New Wirral History
Tall Brick Chimneys
by diggingdeeper - 16th Mar 2024 11:56am
D.I.Y. / Building Shop
by mharford91 - 3rd Mar 2024 8:53pm
Looking for Joneses
by Markjon88 - 11th Apr 2019 7:06am
1970's Murder in Central Park, Wallasey
by cutespam - 4th Aug 2018 10:28am
Oleo Works
by Ducko - 14th May 2008 3:09pm
Top Posters(30 Days)
granny 15
casper 14
bri445 4
Topic Replies
This is Elvis
by GingerTom - 17th Mar 2024 2:37pm
Tall Brick Chimneys
by diggingdeeper - 16th Mar 2024 12:20pm
Gaza
by granny - 15th Mar 2024 10:13pm
Get your Money Tree ready
by StellaSimmons - 11th Mar 2024 11:50am
D.I.Y. / Building Shop
by bri445 - 4th Mar 2024 5:54pm
Xbox
by TudorBlue - 3rd Mar 2024 8:48pm
Restaurant/pub with outdoor seating - Bromborough
by Abakumss - 2nd Mar 2024 3:52pm
Oleo Works
by diggingdeeper - 1st Mar 2024 11:51pm
Wiper mechanism needed
by Gibbo - 28th Feb 2024 12:29pm
March
M T W T F S S
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Top Likes Received (30 Days)
casper 1
Top Likes Received
bert1 14
Mark 4
granny 3
casper 3
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
#1079843 25th Sep 2020 12:23pm
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,630
mikeeb Offline OP
Forum Addict
OP Offline
Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,630
I was reading about the history of the Argyle Theatre and that it was bombed in the blitz and condemned but interestingly it wasn't knocked down, the dressing room complex and Argyle Hotel survived.
The theatre carried on as a travelling theatre.

The Argyle Theatre for Youth by Geoff Unwin
A visitor to this site, Geoff Unwin, who performed for the Argyle Theatre For Youth and was also the composer of the title song score for the feature film 'On the Buses,' has sent in some information and images of the Argyle Theatre, he writes:-

'Dennis Clarke, who ran the Theatre in the first half of the 20th Century, had three sons, two of which - Tom and Gerrard - ran the Argyle Theatre for Youth from the dressing room complex of the Theatre that survived the blitz.

It was a traveling fit-up theatre which I joined in 1957 for a production of Alice in Wonderland, touring schools all over the British Isles. (I played the white rabbit and Judy Vague - a great niece of Hollywood's Vera Vague - played Alice.)

Uncle Tom, as we called him often told us stories of his childhood in the Theatre. He remembered the first movies being shown there on a huge white linen sheet which was suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the Theatre. Firemen sprayed water on it in order for those on both sides of the screen to view the hazy images. No-one complained about the water running down the isles apparently!

In 1949 Tom Clarke bought a job-lot of costumes from Tom Arnold and these were used in his touring productions as well as being hired out to other companies. I remember 'uncle Tom' opening a locked door in the rabbit warren of dressing rooms to let us look out into the ruin of the Theatre. It was open to the sky and still contained huge mounds of bricks which had been left there since the war.

This was in 1957, I don't think it would be allowed today.
[Linked Image]

The Theatre for Youth continued into the 1970's. In the early 1980's the Argyle pub, attached to the Theatre, was condemned as 'unsafe' and in danger of collapse and was finally demolished along with the remains of the Theatre.

Today there is no sign of there ever having been such a wonderful Theatre with its own adjoining pub ever having existed on the barren space which is now a car park.' (For those that don't know, this is the car park opposite the old post office) - Text courtesy Geoff Unwin.
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/BirkenheadTheatres.htm


I found it strange that they left the ruins for so long. Did they have urban explorers back then? laugh

An old map from 1955 still showing the Argyle Theatre and ruins behind it. A 1970 map also shows the ruins still there.

Attached Images
Argyle Theatre ruins.png (278.76 KB, 41 downloads)
Google Ads
mikeeb #1079854 26th Sep 2020 9:56am
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 209
Addict
Offline
Addict
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 209
I used to go to performances in the 30s with my sister who was going out with a guy called Dominick Ball who operated the limes and this got us in free. His mother ran a theatrical boarding house in the Woodlands. There used to be a barbers in little Grange Road whose walls where covered with autographed photos of stars who had performed at the Argyle, however that was bombed as well which is a great pity as a chunk of Argyle history went.

mikeeb #1080026 10th Oct 2020 2:52am
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 516
Smartchild
Offline
Smartchild
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 516
BSM (British School of Motoring) used part of it as an office in the 1960s before moving further down Argyle Street. The new Argyle pub which had a brief life near the site of the 'new' market used the old ticket office door from the theatre complete with hatch as an internal pub door. Where has that gone now? Probably went in a skip when they knocked it down. I remember looking at it with my father and famous Birkenhead boxer Leo Molloy and we could see the marks where people had placed their coins over the years.

Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 14,334
Likes: 18
Wiki Master
Offline
Wiki Master
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 14,334
Likes: 18
Originally Posted by tigertiger1953
BSM (British School of Motoring) used part of it as an office in the 1960s before moving further down Argyle Street.


Before that it was the Argyle School of Motoring


Attached Images
000690.Birkenhead-argyle5.jpg (91.29 KB, 16 downloads)

We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn

https://ddue.uk
diggingdeeper #1080103 13th Oct 2020 10:17pm
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,210
Forum Veteran
Online Content
Forum Veteran
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,210
Originally Posted by diggingdeeper
Originally Posted by tigertiger1953
BSM (British School of Motoring) used part of it as an office in the 1960s before moving further down Argyle Street.


Before that it was the Argyle School of Motoring



the rooms above British School of Motoring further down Argyle Street were used for dances etc by the football teams of the Old Instonians in the 1960s


Moderated by  Mod 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Random Wirral Images

Click to View Topic.
Newest Topics
Tall Brick Chimneys
by diggingdeeper - 16th Mar 2024 11:56am
D.I.Y. / Building Shop
by mharford91 - 3rd Mar 2024 8:53pm
Xbox
by TudorBlue - 3rd Mar 2024 8:48pm
Possible Cause of Dementia
by diggingdeeper - 22nd Feb 2024 2:08am
Wiper mechanism needed
by Peter0787 - 20th Feb 2024 4:07pm
For Sale & Free
This is Elvis
by GingerTom - 17th Mar 2024 2:37pm
Member Spotlight
diggingdeeper
diggingdeeper
Wirral
Posts: 14,334
Joined: July 2008
Today's Birthdays
There are no members with birthdays on this day.
New Wirral Info
Get your Money Tree ready
by keef666 - 22nd Mar 2023 12:27pm
Restaurant/pub with outdoor seating - Bromborough
by CarterUSM - 7th Aug 2020 7:59pm
Floral pavilion promo code?
by TheComputerLab - 31st Dec 2018 2:11pm
News : New Topics
Gaza
by diggingdeeper - 29th Oct 2023 9:28am
New Enthusiast Forums
Xbox
by TudorBlue - 3rd Mar 2024 8:48pm
Possible Cause of Dementia
by diggingdeeper - 22nd Feb 2024 2:08am
Wiper mechanism needed
by Peter0787 - 20th Feb 2024 4:07pm
Popular Topics(Views)
5,067,092 WIKI WALK CHAT
4,011,039 Spotted!
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5