Grand Opera House

The Grand Opera House stands on the corner of Clifford Street and Cumberland Street in York. Its red-brick front, designed by George Alfred Dean in the Italianate style, was once a corn exchange built in the mid-1860s. The building’s first floor shows a row of round-headed windows above an asymmetrical façade. Inside, the main hall measured 23 metres by 19 metres when it opened in 1868. By the late 19th century the corn trade had declined, leaving the hall underused. William Peacock bought the site in the early 20th century and joined the old exchange to a nearby warehouse. John Priestley Briggs turned the two buildings into a music hall with raked seating and a proscenium arch. It reopened on 20 January 1902 as the Grand Theatre and Opera House, starring Florrie Forde in a pantomime. The name changed again in 1903 to the Grand Opera House & Empire Theatre. After showing silent films, it became the Empire Theatre in 1916. Ernest Shepherd took over in 1958 and converted the space into a bingo hall and roller-skating rink. The building closed in 1985 before new owners restored the raked seating and stage in 1989. Macbeth marked its return as the Grand Opera House. Financial troubles followed in 1991, but it reopened in 1993 and was later bought by the Ambassador Theatre Group in 2009. Today it hosts touring plays, musicals, opera and ballet.