Hulme Hippodrome

The Hulme Hippodrome, Manchester (1901) is a Grade 2 variety theatre and a side hall, used for repertory, 1940s, and BBC outside broadcasts, 1950-1956.

This article is about the theatre called the Hulme Hippodrome from 1905 onwards. For the earlier Hulme Hippodrome, see Playhouse Theatre, Manchester.

Hulme Hippodrome, M15 5EU

Grand Junction Theatre Second Manchester Repertory Theatre
Exterior of Hulme Hippodrome, 2021
Address	Warwick Street, Hulme Manchester M15 5EU United Kingdom
Construction
Opened	1901
Architect	J. J. Alley

The Hulme Hippodrome, a Grade 2 listed building, a proscenium arch theatre with two galleries, was originally known as the Grand Junction Theatre and Floral Hall. It opened on 7 October 1901 on the former main road of Preston Street, Hulme, Manchester. The theatre has been closed since 2018 and a campaign group exists to bring it back into use as a community resource. The stage doors are on Warwick Street.

Architectural details

The Hippodrome and the conjoined smaller Playhouse Theatre in the same building were built at roughly the same time (1901, 1902) and they were part of the circuit of 17 theatres owned by W. H. Broadhead (1848-1931) located mostly in working class urban areas across North West England. The two venues were reportedly connected by an arcade (some researchers question this feature existed). The extensive building was Broadhead's company headquarters. Various architectural drawings for the building exist in archives, not all of which correspond with the eventual constructed form of the building. The architect was J.J. Alley, however W.H. Broadhead had previously made his money as a builder and is suggested in research to have had a strong influence in the design and construction. The frontage includes ornamentation with white glazed-brick bandings and pilaster strips, with (now faded) painted lettering.

Location

The Hulme Hippodrome frontage originally faced onto a road, Preston Street, and it was at a T-junction with Clopton Street at right angles northwards. Preston Street and Clopton Street are now footpaths meeting at a small square in front of Hulme Hippodrome, the roads being removed (stopped up) in the 1960s urban regeneration. There are theatre doors on a remaining boundary road of Warwick Street. Some of the older postcodes used for the building are no longer current.

Main Auditorium

The main auditorium is a proscenium arch theatre with two galleries - the Circle and the Balcony. The ornate interior plasterwork was by Messrs Alberti, of Oxford Street, Manchester. The initial seating capacity was 3,300 and unusually for a theatre the audience sat on straight benches, except for seven rows of individual tip-up seats in the centre block of the Circle. Benches were preferred by some theatre managers to squeeze in extra paying patrons for the popular shows. The theatre's three-storey fly-tower is at the east side elevation next to Warwick Street. Some additional doorways were added to this elevation in the 1960s to provide additional safety exits. This side also includes a square chimney with white glazed-brick decoration.

Floral Hall

The Floral Hall was originally a full-height Edwardian atrium with a glass apex roof for customers to promenade indoors while waiting for the auditorium doors to open. Over the years it has been extensively modified, including division at first floor height with additional floors and ceilings, probably in the 1970s, but with its original 1901 features reportedly retained behind the later fixtures. The glass apex roofing was replaced with corrugated sheets.

Frontage and Shops

From archived plans, the original frontage was mostly shops with a small area to the north-west corner having an entrance to the theatre and a box office window to the street. In later years a shop in the central area was removed to create a more prominent theatre entrance. The four (possibly five, or six according to one drawing) small shops on Preston Street, odd numbers 47 to 53, were along the front of the building up to the north-east corner. Each shop unit had their own stairway to a self-contained basement. Known uses from oral histories and photographs include a shoe repairer, a hairdresser, and a tobacconist. The shop frontages were rendered over in 1971 and the units were reconfigured for use as storage areas with access via internal doorways.

The footprint is 1685 square metres (18,135 square feet); two and three storeys (10.2m height) plus a basement. The whole building (both theatres) is 2506 square metres (26,975 square feet). The size of the building means that during heavy rain (8mm/hr) 20,000 litres of water (4,300 gallons) needs to be channelled and drained off the roof space per hour.

A mercury arc rectifier made by Slatter & Co of London survives in the basement - these were typically used in commercial buildings that originally had a supply of DC (direct current) electricity to their plant equipment; buildings which needed to add a rectifier when the local mains supply was converted to AC (alternating current) in the early 1900s.

1905 name swap - Variety starts

Initially the larger of the two conjoined theatres staged mainly dramatic productions, while the smaller theatre presented variety performances, but due to the increasing popularity of variety theatre the names and functions of the two adjacent theatres were swapped over in 1905: the formerly-named Hippodrome became known as the Grand Junction, and the variety performances and name were transferred to the larger theatre, now the new Hippodrome. The 1905 swap also replaced some benches in the Pit and Stalls areas with individual tip-up seats, the most expensive seats, prices ranging from tuppence (1p) to nine pence (4p).

Overcrowding

From a press report, on 20 February 1908 the Watch Committee of Manchester Corporation met in the Lord Mayor's Parlour in Manchester Town Hall in public to approve theatre licences and to hear complaints about overcrowding in theatres. WH Broadhead was in attendance asking for a licence concession to sell alcohol at Hulme Hippodrome and his other theatres. The packed public attendance had raised petitions and were complaining strongly about 'the queueing system' and instead they wanted 'the booking system'. One theatre (Prince's Theatre, Manchester) had 700 people reported as standing in the Pit area at times, along with blocked exit routes. The queueing system included what was known at the time as the "early doors" process which apparently gave a cheaper price to people towards the front of the queue outside, but people were complaining about having to wait for hours in bad weather and shopkeepers complaining about so many people blocking 'their' pavements. For example, at the meeting "A young lady said she waited outside the [Prince's] theatre one evening for an hour and a quarter, paid a shilling, and then found there was no room." The theatre owners present at the meeting successfully resisted a change to having to adopt the booking system, but in return the committee's decision was that for "the music-halls, the Broadhead theatres, and the Gaiety Theatre the Committee again exacted a covenant from the [licence] applicants that they would not sell intoxicating liquors." This ban on alcohol sales remained until February 1935.

A 'number two' venue

Variety theatres in Britain were divided into a hierarchy of three national networks with the top being called ‘number one’ and the bottom ‘number three’. To call a variety theatre ‘number four’ was usually an insult. This hierarchy collapsed in the mid-1950s "with remarkable speed.” Artists were paid the most by number one venues, and once they started to get such bookings they would refuse booking requests from venues lower in the hierarchy. Number one venues were mostly in the west end of London and in other city centres. Possible examples of a number two venue would have been the (First) Manchester Hippodrome on Oxford Road, and the Ardwick Empire (later the New Manchester Hippodrome) in Ardwick Green. Hulme Hippodrome was a number two venue (based on recollections of older people from Hulme who visited as children, knowing it was called a "second grade" variety theatre; and press comments). Number three venues tended to be local independents or in the smaller circuits. Number one venues had larger orchestras, and with a wider range of musicians. A benefit of being designated as a lower number venue was that their audiences would often be the first to see new artists. Having all three types of ‘number’ theatres nearby added to the range of acts available to local communities, like having a choice of different TV channels.

The roots of variety theatre in the UK have been said in some research to be found in the vaudeville format that came from the USA. It extended the previous UK format of music halls.

Early artists at the Hip

Research has been done into some of the notable Black performers who appeared at Hulme Hippodrome in the variety era, including Harry Scott and Eddie Whaley, Cassie Walmer, Will Garland, Chris Gill, and Ike Hatch.

Around 1910 it's reported that Stan Laurel appeared at the Hip as a young man before going to America. His stage name at a young age was Stanley Jefferson, being a member of the Fred Karno troupe and reportedly making his professional debut in Manchester. He was on stage with Frank Lisbon and understudying Charlie Chaplin. In 1912 Stan Laurel moved to the USA as part of the Fred Karno company.

In 1915 Gracie Fields led in a variety revue called, Yes, I Think So, which premiered on the Broadhead circuit of theatres which included Hulme Hippodrome. The Tiller Girls dance company (formed in Manchester in 1889) performed at the Hulme Hippodrome (1912) as did Randolf Sutton (1930).

George Formby appeared at the Hulme Hippodrome between 1923 and 1935, including in his own revue, Formby Seeing Life (1925) which was described in The Manchester Programme as "a distinct success. He works hard, and as the simple looking lad from Wigan gets the better of most arguments."

1930s - new owners

Following the death of WH Broadhead in 1931 the theatre was sold to the Buxton Estates in 1932, reportedly to help the family pay death duties, and in November 1938 it was sold on to the Brennan Circuit although the lease to J & C Lever Theatre ran on to June 1940. A grandson of WH Broadhead, Alfred Burt-Briggs (1912-2004), wrote an unpublished memoir of the Broadhead Circuit and kept a family archive of papers relating to the 17 theatres.

From a newspaper report in 1933, Hulme Hippodrome and other theatres in Manchester had been closed for a "summer vacation" and would reopen on the Bank Holiday at the end of August. This was probably a regular arrangement each year.

In August 1934 the theatre management (GH Barrasford) published a celebratory advertisement in The Stage about the popularity of the play of the novel Love On The Dole by Walter Greenwood (1933), saying, "Last week at the Hippodrome, Hulme (the seventh week it has played Manchester this year) ... Total receipts £915-1-6". Wendy Hiller was the lead actor in this performance, it having transferred from the Prince's Theatre in Manchester. The play was first performed on 26 February 1934 by the Manchester Repertory Theatre company at the their theatre in Rusholme, Manchester.

In February 1935 the Manchester Watch Committee permitted Hulme Hippodrome and a number of other local theatres to sell alcohol for the first time, limited to sales during one 15-minute intermission in each performance. Previously any theatre in Manchester with two shows each evening was not allowed to sell alcohol. From an archived draft report to the Watch Committee dated 19 January 1960, the 1935 permission was for a single bar "on the first-floor balcony to the Floral Hall" with a drinking area of 25 m2, which shortly afterwards had an approved increase with another 45 m2; a total of 70 m2. "A further application to increase this area was refused by the Committee in August 1939." according to the background details in the draft report. The 1960 report focussed on a proposal to the Committee to reduce the size of the first floor bar and the create a new bar on the ground floor of the Floral Hall, which was recommended for approval.

In February 1937 a further Walter Greenwood play was performed at the Hip, Give Us This Day, based on his novel His Worship The Mayor. The play has previously been called, Special Area.

An extensive coverage of the variety acts performing at Hulme Hippodrome between 1920 and 1940 was compiled by Roger Rolls and self-published as a book in 2000. His father was on the staff at the Hulme Hippodrome playing the violin in the resident 'orchestra', having learnt to play to gain work after being gassed in the First World War.

In 2016 Cicely Peover, 90, wrote about her memories of 'Hulme Hip' in the 1930s when as a child where she would go to the:

• "first house on a Saturday night. Always in the circle ... my sister and I were with grandpa who loved 'variety' and brought a quarter of jellied almonds to eat during the show. Jugglers, acrobats, dancers, singers, the wonderfully funny Albert Modley, seals who played motor horns and even a circus. The aroma on that occasion was rather more pungent than the usual cosy, plushy theatre smell! Boxing Day would mean the annual panto when Eileen and I could wear a new 'best' winter dress." (A "quarter" was a quarter of a pound weight, just over 100g)

1940s - (Second) Manchester Repertory Theatre

On 8 July 1940 the theatre re-opened "after extensive decorating, re-seating, carpeting, re-lighting (stage and auditorium)" and being "under new management from 24 June 1940" according to a trade advertisement.

Between 1943 and 1949 the productions were known as the Manchester Repertory Theatre. One press report partially dated it by saying, "For a few years after the war it was a repertory theatre but it reverted to variety and revue", however the name had been used "as an alternative title since 1943" and then permanently from July 1946. They advertised themselves as the Manchester Repertory Theatre, but sometimes "Second" was later added to the name to differentiate them from an earlier rep company active from 1907 to c.1917.

There were at least two 'war plays' written by Zelda Davees, a local resident and a former rep actor: Wearing the Pants (1941); and Without Them We Perish (1944) based on the Manchester air raid and performed by the Frank H Fortescue's Famous Players. According to IMDb the play Wearing the Pants became a screenplay for the film Those People Next Door (1953). It was made by Mancunian Films in Rusholme at the film studios on Dickenson Road, later bought by the BBC in 1954 for TV productions.

Other Manchester Repertory Theatre advertised performances at Hulme Hippodrome were Married Blitz (June 1945) and The Chinese Bungalow (October 1945). From a press report in July 1946:

• "The Hulme Hippodrome has been used by Mr Frank H Fortescue's repertory companies (sic) for the last five years, and over 250 different plays have been performed. Plays are given twice nightly and are generally popular in appeal. The previous Manchester Repertory Theatre Ltd went into liquidation in 1940. Mr Armitage Owen, its director, then took some of the members of the company to North Wales, where (apart from occasional tours) they have been ever since. ... He added that it had always been his intention to keep the name of the Manchester Repertory Company alive until it could return to a theatre in Manchester."

Repertory theatre is the idea of a permanent company of actors performing in just one theatre with a learnt catalogue of plays performed in rotation for a week at a time. Before that acting companies had to tour, and usually with just one play. Because it was grounded in one place, rep theatre led to more working class culture appearing on the stage.

The British theatre format of rep had been created in Manchester in 1907 by Miss Horniman as she was known, (Annie Horniman 1860-1937) when she transformed The Gaiety Theatre in Manchester city centre. Her ‘project’ lasted just under 10 years but it left a lasting mark and was adopted by theatres across Britain. It was known as the ‘Manchester School’ of drama.

In 1950 the theatre name reverted to being - Hulme Hippodrome.

Refurbishment

Reverting to being called Hulme Hippodrome, in 1950 the theatre was used again for variety performances. This change followed a short closure for an internal refurbishment reportedly paid for by Dorothy Squires ('Dot', married to Roger Moore) and Billy Dainty, though others attribute the funding to James Brennan, who had added The Playhouse to his property portfolio in 1950. This refurbishment reduced the seating capacity by 300, down to 1,530 seats. A press report in March 1950 said:

• "The Hulme Hippodrome, which changed over to variety a short while ago, has already acquired a distinctive atmosphere of popularity. ... The audience did a lot towards making the show go with a swing, and, with the theatre renovated with plenty of comfortable red plush and gilt cherubs, one sensed a long-established tradition rather than a new venture, a feeling that it is still the music-hall which is the people's theatre."

In May 1950 a theatre review reported that Hulme Hippodrome was "Still finding its feet [again] as a variety theatre".

1950s - BBC recordings at the Hip, radio and TV

So far the earliest known radio broadcast from Hulme Hippodrome was an excerpt of a performance of Cinderella pantomime transmitted on 5 January 1950.

From the BBC Written Archives Centre, Reading, a file exists on recordings made at Hulme Hippodrome, with 21 titles of different programmes recorded between January 1950 and December 1956. Most (15/21) details are of single episodes of different programmes, and some are of one or more series. These archive papers are not exhaustive. The BBC 'rented' the Hulme Hippodrome auditorium on Sunday evenings when there were no public performances, to make radio (audio) recordings of variety acts for radio programmes (and later TV) such as the series, Variety Fanfare.

In the 1950s there were three BBC radio networks or 'services' - Home, Light, and Third. The Light Service and the Third Programme were national services, and the Home Service was also national but with six regional opt-outs, one being the North of England. Some of the recordings made at the Hulme Hippodrome were for the regional opt-out slots in the Home Service, and some were made for the Light Service which was national.

The BBC Northern Dance Orchestra (NDO) was based at The Playhouse and was created on 1956; following on from the BBC Northern Variety Orchestra which was created on 1 April 1951 but is less researched to date. Analogue audio magnetic tapes of both orchestras are held in archives.

From a book on the history of the BBC's Variety Department, in the post-war years there was a need to find good recording venues:

• "studio and rehearsal facilities remained little short of deplorable with outdated fittings and equipment" and "Geoff Lawrence, who worked in Variety [Department] in Manchester, remembered the 'good, healthy, constructive and positive atmosphere .. [with] a friendly rivalry about it.' He continued, 'We had a pretty good regional head of programmes who talked our language ... and we were allowed that delightful freedom to experiment'."

In another book, the then programme engineer Peter Pilbeam explained about his work recording acts inside the Hulme Hippodrome for BBC radio:

• "We had a permanent outside broadcast control room in the circle, which was in fact a garden shed. No sound insulation whatsoever, it was an impossible place get a decent balance out of anything. We heard more through the walls than we did from the loudspeaker. We did some good stuff there, though."

Peter Pilbeam went on to be a BBC producer. As shown in a poster, he produced the first BBC radio performance by The Beatles with Pete Best on drums, on Teenagers' Turn - Here We Go, recorded in the BBC's Playhouse studio on 7 March 1962, transmitted on 8 March 1962 (next door to Hulme Hippodrome). In total they appeared five times in this radio series.

1950s - Variety Fanfare

In some reports Variety Fanfare (1950 - 1954) started as a regional radio programme, though by August 1952 the Radio Times describes it as being broadcast on the (national) Light Service. Some reports have Variety Fanfare as the North's answer to London's Variety Bandbox. The radio series Northern Variety Parade started around 1956.

Produced for the BBC between February 1950 and June 1954 first by Bowker Andrews and then Ronnie Taylor, Variety Fanfare was a career-building radio series for many Northern comedians including Morecambe and Wise. There are also reports that these early 1950s radio performances by comedians included Bob Monkhouse, Ken Platt, and Al Read, with Frankie Vaughan as a warm-up artist. Ronnie Taylor's uncatalogued archive is held at the V&A.

The BBC described Variety Fanfare in the Radio Times as, "high speed variety". The high speed variety format was developed in the UK in the 1930s, imported from the USA vaudeville, where there were no pauses between acts and artists would be fined if they caused a stage wait. "A gap between acts was known as a 'stage wait', ... an unforgivable sin in any performance ... In a No 1 theatre heads would roll!" Prior to the 1930s, variety in the UK included many long pauses, for example for costume changes in the wings mid-way as well as between acts.

1950s - Al Read, comedian

Al Read's breakthrough radio broadcast was on 17 February 1950 on Variety Fanfare; produced by Bowker Andrews with Ronnie Taylor polishing his improvised sketch into a script. He previously had had stage fright, which may explain why the sketch was recorded in a studio, however it quickly led to his regular performances on stage in further Variety Fanfare episodes, recorded at Hulme Hippodrome.

The Al Read Show was recorded at Hulme Hippodrome between 1952 and 1955. A press article in 2001 was written as a 50-year retrospective about Al Read. Based on a set of self-published books by Mike Craig, Look Back With Laughter (1996) the article said:

• "When Al Read's brand of northern humour hit the airwaves ... he became an overnight star. ... a BBC radio variety producer ... persuaded [Al Read] to repeat the stories on the show Variety Fanfare, produced each week at the Hulme Hippodrome. The spot was so successful that ... he was [later] engaged by the BBC as resident comedian on Variety Bandbox" recorded in London. He later played at the Adelphi Theatre in London and in several Royal Variety Shows.

1950s - Morecambe & Wise, comedians

After their first substantial series of radio broadcasts from Hulme Hippodrome, being featured in 45 episodes of Variety Fanfare, Morecambe and Wise went on to have their own radio show, You're Only Young Once (1953-54), originally for six episodes then extended to nine, also produced by Ronnie Taylor and also recorded at Hulme Hippodrome. They later appeared in a radio series in 1955, The Show Goes On, in the variety format with other artists including Ken Dodd, same producer and venue.

Morecambe and Wise also played at least three acts to regular paying audiences at Hulme Hippodrome, Monday to Saturday, one time as second billing to the ventriloquist Dennis Spicer. One week's performance by Morecambe and Wise was 6-11 December 1954 where they were top of the bill, with details in a printed programme.

In 2009 Doreen Wise rediscovered a collection of recordings (tapes and acetate discs) at home from some of these radio sessions, excerpts of which were rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010.

1950s - BBC TV

A TV programme made at Hulme Hippodrome was broadcast on Sunday 2 October 1955, possibly live. It was called, Northern Lights, and the listing details are: "The BBC North Region presents stars from show business with the Raymond Woodhead Singers [plus the] BBC Northern Variety Orchestra, conducted by Alyn Ainsworth before an invited audience in the Hulme Hippodrome, Manchester. Produced by Ronnie Taylor and Eric Miller."

In December 1955 the connecting doorways in the party wall between the conjoined theatres were bricked up when the BBC bought the Playhouse Theatre from James Brennan to use as a full-time radio and TV recording studio, using it for 30 years until around 1986.

1950s - Variety, Revue, Rock and Roll

In "about 1951, 1952" Ken Dodd was playing on stage at the Hip, as a 'guest artist' or stand-in as he later said, on contract to James Brennan, including appearing in the same bill as Ted Lune. It was around this time that Ken Dodd said he appeared on the same radio programme recorded at the Hip as Max Miller, a hero of his. Max Miller had been 'demoted' to play 'number two' theatres for around 18 months after he deliberately over-ran his stage act at the Royal Variety Performance on 13 November 1950.

On 17 September 1953 Shirley Bassey appeared with other singers in the touring show, Memories of Jolson. This was said to be her first professional tour as a singer. She next appeared in May 1954 in Harlem Jazz, where a newspaper review of her performance at Hulme Hippodrome said, "Shirley Bassey sings old and new blues tunes with real zip".

Barry Took made his premiere professional career appearance in August 1951 at the Hulme Hippodrome.

The increasing use of the revue format for a whole 2-hour performance was to save costs. The revue format booked and used all the artists as a single company, with each artist taking on multiple roles across the different slots.

In October 1955 there was press coverage over a 'kangaroo' (probably smaller, a wallaby) that went missing from the Hip, as follows:

• An illusionist's kangaroo was captured by police after it had been seen hopping along Cornbrook Street, Old Trafford, Manchester, early yesterday. It waited in a city police cell to be bailed out by the Great Levante, who makes it disappear every night. Jo-Jo, who is six months old and two feet tall, vanishes regularly on the stage for the illusionist. On Monday he vanished completely from Hulme Hippodrome. Mr Levante's manager said: "He must have been taken, because he could not just wander about without being spotted."

In the later 1950s the theatre was used at times for Rock and Roll performances, sometimes within a wider variety programme. For example, from a poster, Art Baxter and His Rock and Roll Sinners were playing within an 11-acts programme on 11 February 1957, and appearing again on 8 April 1957.

In the winter of 1957-58 the pantomime at the Hip was Babes in the Wood, starring the variety singer Mary Naylor.

1950s - Nudity

In terms of 'adult' entertainment being shown in variety theatres, it had been a component of shows for many years, and Hulme Hippodrome was no different. The advertising term often used was 'revue'. For example “Nudity was nothing new in variety. In 1937, an American striptease artist called Diana Raye was booked to appear … at the [London] Palladium”. Although this trend had started before the Second World War, the 1950s saw it increase, for example, there were “the low-budget touring nude revues that increasingly dominated the dying circuit in the 1950s. The name La Clique is an interesting choice of title, suggesting a show aimed at a select” clientele and hoping for a sophisticated image for the venues.

Specific examples of such shows at Hulme Hippodrome included, Don’t Blush Girls, How To Undress (July 1939), Bon Soir, Mesdames - The Nudes Internationale (August 1950), Strip Tease Special, and Strip! Strip! Hooray! (both July 1958).

There are elders within the Save Hulme Hippodrome campaign who have recorded in oral history sessions their memories from being young children living in Hulme in the 1950s and visiting the Hip, often unaccompanied. These records include watching the act, Jane (Chrystabel Leighton-Porter), at a time before there were age-appropriate restrictions on who could attend performances. The elders group also remember seeing the nude tableau vivant led by Phyllis Dixey.

1950s - Coronation Street actors

The TV programme Coronation Street started on ITV (Granada) in 1960, and at least three of its initial actors had worked previously in the 1950s at Hulme Hippodrome and other theatres. Violet Carson (as Ena Sharples) had previously played the piano at Hulme Hippodrome. Jill Summers (as Phyllis Pearce) had appeared as a comedian with a stage role as a railway porter in uniform and with a trolley and two suitcases as props, telling stories and jokes. Bill Waddington (as Percy Sugden) had appeared in pantomime as The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe.

Another Coronation Street actor was Arthur Lowe, who also later starred in Dad's Army. He had acted in the army entertainments during the Second World War, and afterwards he joined the Frank H Fortescue Company at the Hulme Hippodrome, where he met his wife, Joan Cooper, the company's leading lady.

Don Estelle, the actor and singer, was born in Crumpsall, Manchester, and he first performed in front of a live theatre audience when singing the same song 12 times a week in the show The Backyard Kids at the Hulme Hippodrome in the early 1950s. In the 1960s he worked as an acting extra at Granada Television, throwing darts in the Rovers Return in Coronation Street. It was while working there that Arthur Lowe suggested he contact Jimmy Perry and David Croft, which got him a minor part in 1969 in the 10-year series of Dad's Army as a delivery worker and later the role of Gerald, a deputy ARP Warden. This work led to his leading role with the character of Lofty in Perry and Croft's series, It Ain't Half Hot Mum from 1974 to 1981.

1960s - Revue, Mecca Bingo

The Hippodrome was last used as a variety theatre in 1960. Possibly the last pantomime staged was Dick Whittington and his Cat in January 1960. In November 1960 the Hip was bought by Bill Benny, a retired professional wrestler and alleged gangster, for £35,000 and used for 'adult' entertainment. A number of black & white photographs of the exterior of the building with posters for 'nude shows' exist from this era. In April 1962 Bill Benny sold it to Mecca Entertainments for use as a bingo hall. He was paid in shares worth somewhere between £35,000 and £50,000. The Hip was initially renamed as Mecca Bingo Preston Street and later as the Mecca Social Club, with its reported closure in 1988.

The 1962 purchase led to some internal changes, in particular the sloping auditorium had a wooden 'false' floor built to create a level surface for the change in layout from rows of theatre seating to a grid pattern of bingo tables with chairs around them. This new floor was almost level to the stage height. The stage was also 'boxed in' to make it smaller. These wooden constructions have since been removed. There were also two external changes: one of the shop units was converted to become a new and wider doorway for access to the bingo hall, and the booking office window at the front was made smaller.

In a press report a spokesperson for Mecca said, "it will be redecorated and will reopen in about five weeks ... The theatre was 'broken down and needing a lot of improvements,' but these would be carried out without destroying the character of the building. ... the theatre would be available for amateur operatic and dramatic societies which might want to stage Christmas pantomimes or musical shows."

In June to August 1968 there is correspondence held in Archives-Plus (in Manchester Central Library) which includes planning discussions between Mecca Ltd, BBC, and Manchester City Council planners on the details of a planned refurbishment scheme.

1960s - Urban Regeneration

On 11 April 1962 there is a press report concerning the state of the houses around Hulme Hippodrome, saying it was "the biggest area to be recommended for slum clearance in Manchester since the war", leading to 1,280 homes being demolished by around 1965 and many of the old roads being 'stopped up' and removed. This urban renewal displaced many families who were the theatre's local audiences, before new residents returned to live in Hulme. The newspaper article mentions Hulme Hippodrome in particular:

• "The latest area includes the Playhouse Theatre, now used by the BBC, and the Hulme Hippodrome Theatre, which has just been taken over by Mecca Ltd, and is to be converted mainly as a hall for bingo and horsey-horsey. A corporation official said that they would not necessarily be affected by the clearance of neighbouring properties. Their future would be considered separately when the proposals to redevelop the area were considered."

As a consequence of these proposals, Preston Street which was the main road at the front of Hulme Hippodrome was removed ('stopped up') and only a footpath now remains from one of the pavements.

Many of the displaced residents still object to Hulme being called a "slum" in official reports, for example from an oral history project within the Save Hulme Hippodrome campaign. There was a further phase of urban regeneration in Hulme in the 1990s, removing many of the 1960s buildings, yet still leaving the role of the 1901 Hulme Hippodrome unresolved.

1970s - Mecca Social Club, Listed Building

By 1971 the remaining shop frontages had been rendered over and the rooms were used for storage with new internal doorways. Aluminium cladding had been added to a substantial amount of the exterior of the building. Around 1977 Mecca had ceased to use the building for bingo and were running it as a social club.

On 8 June 1977 the Hulme Hippodrome was recognised for its architectural importance and became a Grade 2 listed building.

1980s - Night club, snooker hall, music gigs

Around 1986 the social club was closed and the building was briefly run as a night club before its use was changed again in 1987 to be used as a snooker and billards hall. Reportedly this is the period when the Floral Hall was divided with additional floors and ceilings.

From posters and correspondence, in the years 1987-89 the ground floor of the Floral Hall was used for music gigs by local bands, including The Wild Panzis, Metal Monkey Machine, Slum Turkeys, and the Tunnel Frenzies. A typical gig was an evening of five bands playing to around 100 people.

1990s - Going dark

By 1990 the auditorium had ceased to be used commercially, and the building was later placed on Manchester City Council's Buildings At Risk Register, and in 2006 was added to the Theatre Trust's newly-created Theatres At Risk Register. In May 1994 Len Grant, a Manchester-based photographer specialising in documenting its regeneration, took a series of internal shots of the auditorium which are now held in Manchester's Central Library.

2002 - Variety history of both theatres, Radio 4

On 2 April 2002 BBC Radio 4 broadcast episode 3 of 6 in the Palace of Laughter series on The Playhouse and Hulme Hippodrome. It was produced by Libby Cross and presented by Geoffrey Wheeler, with interviews with Ken Dodd, Jimmy Casey, Johnny Roadhouse, Ronnie Taylor, and Roy Chappell. Clips used included Al Read, and Morecambe and Wise. A copy exists on YouTube and a transcript is available.

2003 - Church services

The building was bought from Mecca Entertainments on 26 August 2003 for £152,615 by the controversial Gilbert Deya Ministries, a religious charity which has been officially investigated twice (2004 - 2006, and 2016 - ongoing) or possibly three times by the Charity Commission. Their services were held on the ground floor of the Floral Hall, adjacent to the main auditorium. The religious charity reportedly spent £200,000 on ad-hoc repairs to the Floral Hall portion of the building around 2015.

Following a scandal in the UK with press coverage in 2004 there was a contested extradition of Gilbert Deya in 2017 from the UK to Nairobi, Kenya to face trial on charges of child kidnapping and associated child trafficking to the UK, the charges are denied and the case is ongoing. The charity has been associated with a complex cluster of short-life private companies. There was a further press scandal in 2016.

2004 - Bingo Jesus iconic sign

When the religious charity bought the building there was an existing Bingo rigid sign fixed high on the early 1970s metal cladding on the east wall facing Warwick Street. Probably in late 2003 or early 2004 based on surviving photographs, the charity fixed a banner at the same height beside that sign with the single word, Jesus. These two signs - Bingo Jesus - remained side by side until the signs were removed some years later (maybe 2012) along with the underlying metal cladding (photographs). This combined signage became an iconic cultural reference for many people in Hulme, for example forming a permanent wall display in the Lass O'Gowrie pub (M1 7DB) and with a local psychedelic rock band naming themselves after the sign.

2012 - Youth Village, music gigs

From early 2012 to 2014 the religious charity reportedly leased the upstairs room of the Floral Hall to a community youth group, Youth Village. Following on from the late 1980s there was a further period of music gigs at Hulme Hippodrome / Floral Hall, this time organised by the Youth Village project. For example 12 bands were listed as playing on 29 September 2012. The project's Facebook group, Hulme Hippodrome, was established in May 2012, now closed. The project held an Open Day in December 2012 for visitors to see the main auditorium as a 'hidden gem'.

2016 - Friends of Hulme Hippodrome

The Friends of Hulme Hippodrome Facebook group (established 2015) had hoped to get the building listed in 2016 as an asset of community value, which would have given the community group six months to raise the money needed to buy the building from the owner before it went out to general market. The application, however, was turned down by Manchester City Council. A council spokesman said: "There would also be a significant cost to bring the building back into use—into the millions—and without a [business] plan in place it would be unfair for us to assume they could turn the building around."

2017 - Squatters

Squatters occupied the Hulme Hippodrome from around June 2017 to February 2018, and used the venue for music gigs until the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service issued Prohibition Notices in October 2017 and on 9 February 2018 against holding public events on the basis of inadequate means of escape for the audience. The squatters occupied the Hulme Hippodrome saying they intended to bring it back into community use, and reportedly cleaning it up after years of neglect, though other accounts differ.

• The conjoined Playhouse Theatre, in the southern portion of the building, was sold at auction on 18 May 2017 at the Macron Stadium, Bolton, for £325,000. The ownership transferred from Northern Estates to C&R Properties. The Playhouse had been known as the NIA Centre (1991-1997) and currently is tenanted by and known as Niamos, a community interest company (CIC).

In September 2019, the Hulme Hippodrome was named on the Victorian Society's list of the top ten most endangered buildings in England and Wales.

Some common myths

(A) Although Stan Laurel did appear at the Hip around 1910, there are some incorrect reports of Laurel and Hardy appearing together in later years at Hulme Hippodrome. Laurel and Hardy did appear together on stage at four venues near to Hulme Hippodrome. The confusion might arise from their appearance at the similar-sounding Manchester Hippodrome in 1953. Details are:

1. New Oxford Picture House, Oxford Street (demolished 2017) on 2 August 1932;
2. Palace Theatre, Oxford Road, 21 July 1947 for two weeks;
3. Salford Opera House; and
4. New Manchester Hippodrome, Ardwick Green (demolished 1964, road widening) on 2 November 1953 in their last of four UK tours, Birds of a Feather.

(B) Some incorrect reports have Nina Simone playing at the Hulme Hippodrome, whereas she appeared next door in The Playhouse at an opening event of the NIA Centre on 2 May 1991.

(C) There were local stories of a 'secret tunnel' for artists to escape the crowds outside by going from the Hulme Hippodrome to nearby lodgings in the Junction Hotel, a pub with rooms. Some stories were that this tunnel reached further to the city centre. More recent reports indicate that there probably was a Victorian storm drain at sub-basement level with an unconfirmed doorway from the Hulme Hippodrome basement toilets, and the internal height of this drain and their form as a neighbourhood network might have led to the idea of them as a means of escape.

(D) There are a few comments on some internet sites that the two theatres were previously connected by "an arcade", however there is no direct evidence for this feature in the contemporary drawn plans for the buildings. Before the internal party wall had its doorways between the two auditoriums bricked up in 1955, there might have been a shared exit corridor to the side street. If this corridor was possibly lined with photographs or framed billboards, this might have led to the phrase of an arcade being used within the community.

2021 - The Save Hulme Hippodrome campaign

On 11 January 2021 there was an attempted transfer of the building by two of the trustees of the religious charity to a property developer for sale at auction with it being advertised as suitable for redevelopment into apartments. The attempted transfer wasn't accepted by the Land Registry. Within days of discovering the auction notice the campaign Save Hulme Hippodrome was created by concerned people from the community with the goal of bringing Hulme Hippodrome into community ownership with the aim of restoring it as a community resource. The building was withdrawn from the auction following the first phase of campaigning and the organisation became a limited company in March 2021. The campaign's Facebook page has over 600 followers.

During 2021 the campaign held two community festivals with stalls, performances, and presentations of updates to supporters (18 July, 4 September). On 7 October 2021 an evening street party was held on Warwick Street to celebrate the building's 120th anniversary, including a projection of short films on the east wall. A Spring Festival was held by the campaign group on 6 March 2022. Further photographs were taken inside the building in 2021 by 'urban explorers'.

On 14 February 2022 Manchester City Council served a Section 215 improvements notice (Planning Act) on all the alleged owners for 11 types of external remedial works, which was appealed by one of the alleged owners at Manchester Magistrates Court on 29 July 2022 and the Notice remains in abeyance pending a full hearing scheduled for January 2023.

In the spring of 2022 a group of students in the MSA Live 2022 project at the Manchester School of Architecture hand-made a detailed 1:100 wooden scale model of Hulme Hippodrome, bisected to show the interior layout of the two auditoriums and the Floral Hall, along with digital images of various potential future uses. One suggestion by the MSA students was to consider adding a flattened dome across the entire roof space to better drain the volumes of rainwater from the complex roof form with its many galleys and channels.

See also

• Listed buildings in Manchester-M15