Winter Gardens Theatre

The Winter Gardens Theatre stood in New Brighton on the Wirral coast, a short walk from the vanished New Brighton Tower. Built in 1908 and rebuilt in 1931, it began as a live theatre before becoming a cinema. For decades it drew holidaymakers as well as local families to its shows. Films ran until 1959, when falling audiences closed the building. It then became a bingo hall in the 1960s before standing empty for years. The theatre is remembered for premieres that later reached the West End. Dorothy Brandon’s Araminta Arrives opened there in 1921, followed by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon’s Number 17 in 1925. In February 1927 Edgar Wallace’s thriller The Terror had its first night at the Winter Gardens before a long London run. These productions helped give the theatre a place in theatrical history. Today the site is grass and car parks, but the stories remain. The building once held 1,400 seats and echoed with plays and films. Its walls saw stars of the 1920s and families on holiday. Though the theatre is gone, the memory of its shows lingers along the seafront.