Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Wallasey - New Brighton Tower's Rise & Fall

Probably been posted on here in the past but I cant find it so here it is
Just watched 3 times on the bounce
The music sets the mood just perfect
[youtube]aEpn2OzQSU8[/youtube]

Brill
Did they ever discover the cause of the fire?
Or could it have been an insurance job?
I heard that it had already lost its popularity (in a Nice way).
I think i read they sold the steel off for scrap.

I enjoyed that, the music was fun too.

Just watched this, i did'nt realize just how big the building was .When i was younger my mother worked for Mr McIntre < think that the write spelling > as a waitress in The Rock Point Cafe /Resterant at the top of the stairs from by the Model Railway,so used to work in the Tower Ballroom Cafe as well .I remember being 11 and going to see The Walker Brothers and girls from school were jealous.....i did'nt realize they were a pop group...

amazing, loads of unseen photos in this one, thanks for sharing.

It was a fire of massive proportions and interest nationwide.At the time , I was working at the GPO in Old Hall Street, Liverpool as a telephonist. We were inundated with calls being made from journalists reporting back to head office of their relative newspapers,..... by telephone. ( How things change!!)
We could of course listen in ,and monitor the calls. The reports had a pretty big impact at the time.
It was a similar time in history that the pier was closed (1965), by Wallasey Corporation, but was later leased to a subsidury of Fortes and re opened in 1968. Only to be closed again in 1972.
New Brighton became a ghost town for donkeys years. My children were babes when i took them in 1981. Nothing there then absolutley deserted, and we know how it has only just been redeveloped. What took so bloody long?

Just had a look at 'History of Wallasey' , which states 1191 firemen attended the fire ,plus 37 Officers.

Here is the suspected cause of the fire

"An examination of the burnt out remains was not possible due to the condition of the remaining walls. The Deputy Fire Chief, Alec Dean, said: "A thorough investigation of the cause of this fire was made by the fire department in consultation with the Home Office forensic department and the Cheshire County Police. After the elimination of the possible causes it seems that this fire was due to unauthorised entry to the building and subsequent vandalism or accident in the ignition of the stage area caused by vandals. There could have been no other cause. Electricity and gas had been cut off so these were eliminated and there was no other source. There was a lack of direct evidence to pinpoint vandals but it is the only source that was left.
Steps were soon taken to have the charred shell of the once proud New Brighton Tower building demolished"

In other words, they don't know
Sourced from here http://www.historyofwallasey.co.uk/wallasey/Fire_At_The_Tower/index.html

hi mikeeb,
would really like to see this film only It is just displaying a exclamation mark. Any ideas

you may have youtube blocked at your end (Firewall) or if your in work. . .

Thanks for the reasons Mike

Thanks Mark
Checked my settings and doesnt seem to be my firewall

Try this

Internet settings/Advanced/Restore Advanced settings
and/or

Internet settings/Advanced/Reset

Try the direct link Kaz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aEpn2OzQSU8

Amazing, just think, the vandals that caused the fire could still be out there, even reading this very forum (if it was vandals).

It is no secret that at the time, the tower building was more or less abandoned and was open to all. Lots of kids played in it. I very much doubt if anyone deliberately set out to burn the place down and it was more a case of something getting out of hand or maybe even a fag end discarded?

If you are looking for suspects, then half the kids in New Brighton at the time could qualify.

Buildings in the Tower grounds had a bad habit of burning down and believe me, they weren't caused by kids or vandals, allegedly!