Beau Street, Liverpool 3. 1890 OS map.

This is the eighth in a series of articles about short-lived and/or part-time cinemas in Liverpool which hardly get mentioned elsewhere.

I try to give the full history of each building, both before and after it showed films, with relevant bits of Local History included.

No illustrations of this building seem to exist, but it should prove interesting to see how it was situated in one of Liverpool's poorest neighbourhoods (note the court dwellings).

On the other hand, lots of information has been discovered for this short-lived "Place of Public Resort".

 

HAYMARKET, 12 Beau Street, Liverpool 1

Opened (as cinema) April 1910

 

The Haymarket Music Hall was said to have been opened on 27 November 1882 according to the usually reliable “Annals of the Liverpool Stage” by R. J. Broadbent, but this is a rare mistake by him as “The Era” in December 1882 twice announced the intended opening, and then confirmed on 17 February 1883 that the opening had taken place on Monday, 12 February 1883.

The Haymarket Music Hall was the first of the late Victorian Music Halls to open in Liverpool, followed by the Westminster Music Hall in 1887; the Paddington Palace in 1889; the Roscommon Music Hall in 1892; and the Park Palace in 1894.

All five would later become cinemas, but the Haymarket was the shortest lived of them all.

It seems likely that the Haymarket was an adaptation of an existing building. There had been a house on the site in the early 19th century, and by the time of the 1848 Ordnance Survey map it was shown to be quite a large building. By 1850 it was a Military Hospital. This became the Bethesda Town Mission School by 1859, and the Bethesda Chapel by 1864.

The site (12 Beau Street) was listed in Gore's Street Directory from the 1867 to 1882 editions as being occupied by Matthew Fradsham, a cork manufacturer.

The Haymarket Music Hall took its name from the local market (opened in 1841 at the corner of Great Homer Street and Juvenal Street). It was very much a working-class establishment, being situated right in the heart of North Liverpool's slums, the notorious court dwellings being situated all around. In fact, the east wall of the music hall appears to be the rear wall of part of one of the courts, as seen on the 1890 Ordnance Survey map.

R. J. Broadbent, in his "Annals of the Liverpool Stage" (1908), says that the Haymarket was opened by William Kerr with Mr W. Thomas as manager & scenic artist, and that the music hall was capable of seating over 2,500 persons.

(All this was confirmed in "The Era", a London-based theatrical newspaper. While it’s a fact that the Victorians managed to pack more people in than would be allowed today, it's hard to imagine that the Haymarket was big enough to hold 2,500 people. The site it occupied was even smaller than that of the Futurist cinema (with 1,036 seats). Mr Broadbent goes on to say that after Mr Kerr severed his connection with the hall he was succeeded by Messrs Alfred Farrell & Fred Willmot, and then by Mr Willmot alone. The prices in his time varied from 1d to 1/-, and he successfully managed the Haymarket until 1906. Afterwards Edwin W. Smith, formerly of the Parthenon in Great Charlotte Street, was the lessee and manager (from 1907?).

On 22 October 1907 a theatrical licence was issued, and consequently the building was called the Haymarket Theatre. Legitimate stage plays, and even melodramas, couldn't be performed without a theatrical licence. The theatre then closed in June 1908 and didn't reopen until a new theatrical licence was granted on 18 November 1908.

The proposed reopening of the theatre and the events leading up to it were reported in the Liverpool Echo of 17 November 1908, and give some insight into the management and ownership of such theatres, and is reproduced here:

 

"LIVERPOOL THEATRE TO BE REOPENED

LICENCE GRANTED TO-DAY

AN EXPENSIVE PROPERTY

"Mr Rigby Smith applied on behalf of Mr Frank Emery, of 7 Kenyon Mansions, Queen's Club Gardens, London. for the grant of a theatrical licence for the Haymarket Theatre, Beau Street. Their worships, explained counsel, would remember that at the last sessions for theatre licenses a few weeks ago no application was made in regard to this theatre, and the licence was allowed to lapse. The circumstances under which that happened were these: The owners of the theatre were two married ladies, one of the name of Andrews and the other of the name of Collins, and they had let the theatre to a company which apparently got into difficulties, and did not apply for the renewal of the licence. The company had surrendered the lease which they held of the premises, and Mrs Andrews and Mrs Collins were desirous of carrying on the theatre themselves through a properly qualified and competent manager. The property, which had been a very expensive one to them, had belonged to their father, who died intestate in 1895. Some question arose with the Crown, and it became necessary for the property to be taken over by the Crown and re-conveyed to Mrs Andrews and Mrs Collins. The cost to them of these negotiations with the Crown was something like £8,000. In addition to that they had spent about eighteen months ago £1,000 in carrying out some alterations which the bench at that time thought were desirable, and which no doubt brought the theatre up to date. So that they had sunk a considerable amount of money in the property. Now they had found as a manager for the business a gentleman to whom he (counsel) did not think the least exception could be taken - namely, Mr Emery. He had been practically all his life connected with the management of theatres in all parts of the world. At one time, for a period of ten years (Actually from 1876 to 1884. Author) he was the manager of the Prince of Wales Theatre in Clayton Square, Liverpool.

That was, he (counsel) thought, in what he might say were the best days of the Prince of Wales Theatre, because his (Mr Emery's) connection with the theatre ceased some time about the middle of the eighties. Since that time Mr Emery had spent a considerable number of years - something over twenty, in Australia and New Zealand as the manager of some of the principal theatres in those countries.

"The Chairman, - I don't suppose there is any objection to the applicant.

"Mr Rigby Swift replied that he did not see how there could be. He did not think he need go any further, as there was no objection to the owners, no objection to the applicant, and he did not think there could be any objection to the theatre.

Under the circumstances he would therefore content himself with making the application.

"The Head Constable offered no objection. He said he was very much surprised to hear that the property had cost the owners so much. He did not see how they could make it up, but that was a matter for them. The theatre was closed in June, and had not been opened since. The people of the neighbourhood did not object to it being a theatre, and if the owners wished to try to make money out of it he did not see why they should not.

"The Chairman. - I suppose the application is for a theatrical licence without the sale of drink. This place never had the sale of drink.

"Mr Rigby Swift. Then I do not ask that it should have anything it has not had before.

"The bench agreed to grant the licence subject to certain conditions to be fulfilled as to electric light."

 

On 19 October 1909, when the licence was due to be renewed, no attempt was made to do so. The Clerk to the Justices said the premises were closed, and he didn't think any application would be made, and none was.

A Cinematograph licence was granted on 5 April 1910 to Arons Conder, with instructions that the Gallery and back of the Circle were to be closed to the public. No music hall or theatre licenses were applied for, and the intention was to operate the premises as a cinema. It was now called the Haymarket Picture Palace and the manager was Arons Conder. Mr Conder later applied for a Music Hall licence on 4 December 1913. He wanted to introduce 2 or 3 variety turns with the films. His application was adjourned for a month "in order that the suitability of the hall to have a variety entertainment be reported upon". The hall was obviously not suitable as the application was refused on 8 January 1914.

At the Annual Licensing Session of 1914 (held on October 22) a cinema licence was granted for 12 months, but Mr Conder was told that "a (subsequent) licence will not be granted unless a new building is put up". Exactly twelve months later no application was made to renew the licence, so it is safe to say that the Haymarket finally closed in 1915.

On 7 January 1916 a Mr J. D. Southren applied for approval of plans of a proposed "Picture Hall" at 149-151 Richmond Row, only about 200 yards away from the former Haymarket cinema. The Chairman of the Bench said there were already 9 halls licensed as cinemas within half a mile of the site. (They were the Adelphi in Christian Street; the Prince's in Lytton Street; the Electra in London Road; the Gaiety, Electric Theatre, and Derby, all in Scotland Road; the Roscommon and Moulton, both in Roscommon Street; and the Everton Palace in Heyworth Street.)

There was also the Majestic in Daulby Street, which was just outside the half-mile radius. Mr Southren said the site and building would cost £5,000. The Chairman said that this was not an opportune time (the Great War) to spend capital on a place of amusement. Mr Southren said that after that statement he couldn't justify the application, to which the Chairman replied that he was surprised that the application was made "at the present time". The application was therefore withdrawn and this proposed cinema wasn't built.

In 1918 a building in Beau Street was converted into a factory. The work lasted from January to November, so it may have been quite a big job. It isn't absolutely certain whether this was the former cinema, but it seems very likely that it was. The OS map shows only 2 large buildings in the short Beau Street.

Kelly's Street Directories for 1917 and 1918 do not list 12 Beau Street, probably because it was unoccupied. In the 1919 edition (published at the end of 1918) the address is listed as being occupied by Thomas Porter & Sons, rope and twine manufacturers. 1921 and 1922 show the Nelson Preserving Co. Ltd., at the address.

By the time of the 1924 edition of the Directory the building is shared by Fruits & Chocolates (L'Pool) Ltd., chocolate manufacturers, and The French Cherry Co., fruit preservers.

The last listed occupant of the building (from 1925 to 1931) was the Liverpool Jute Bag Co., sack manufacturers (later Jute Sacks Patent Process Ltd.). The factory was then called Britannia Works.

Most of Beau Street, including this building, seems to have been demolished in the 1930s. The site of the music hall/cinema became part of Wallworks, a large post-war car showroom. (Built before April 1974).

 

Original research by Philip G Mayer.

 

Done