British postcard. Photo: Paul White. Caption: Morecambe Winter Gardens Theatre, Grade 2* listed, built in 1897 and currently under restoration.
British postcard by The Lancaster Paper Co. Ltd., Lancaster, no. M.0603. Photo: Dennis Productions. Caption: Beach & Winter Gardens, Morecambe.
British multi-view postcard. Captions: Central Morecambe. Band Stand. Central Promenade. Shelter and Pier. Winter Gardens and Promenade. Clock Tower and Pier.
British postcard by Morris & Co., Liverpool. Caption: Promenade and Winter Gardens, Morecambe. This postcard was sent by mail in 1914.
British postcard. Caption: Cenotaph and Promenade, Morecambe.
British postcard by Sanderson & Dixon (S & D), Ambleside, no. S.717. Caption: Winter Gardens, Morecambe.
A one-of-a-kind music hall
The Winter Gardens is a Grade II-listed building of a rare type – a big music hall. It is now thought to be one of a kind. It was built in 1897 to the designs of Magnall & Littlewood from Manchester. The Manchester-based practice had already designed the Morecambe West End Pier and Pavilion in 1895-1896, and was then working on the Central Pier Pavilion and the Hotel Metropole at the same time as the new music hall. The venue was originally built as the Victoria Pavilion Concert Hall and Variety Theatre in 1897 and opened on Monday, 19 July 1897. It was an extension to the 1878 Winter Gardens complex, which included an aquarium, gallery, dance hall, three restaurants and a fernery. This complex was built by the Morecambe Baths and Winter Gardens Company, which was founded in 1876 by business people from Bradford to provide bathing facilities and all-weather gardens for visitors. The competitor resorts of Southport and Blackpool already had Winter Gardens. The new Victoria Pavilion Theatre was built next to the original complex, which has since been demolished.
Prominently sited on the seafront, The Winter Gardens is one of Morecambe's most significant features. It is one of the last major reminders of the extensive range of all-weather entertainment that was provided in Victorian and Edwardian Morecambe for the many visitors to the resort. The piers and early cinemas and theatres of that era have mostly succumbed to fire, storms, redevelopment or changing tastes. The main elevation of the Winter Gardens is an ornate, symmetrical composition in red brick and terracotta. There is a glass canopy along the front – a 1997 replacement for the 1909 original – protecting retail units on each side of the main entrance. The foyer and stair hall are richly decorated with the original Italian terrazzo floors, tiles by Burmantoft, elaborate plasterwork and painted and gilded ceilings. Beyond, a curving promenade with timber and glazed screens leads to an impressive auditorium. This wide and elaborately decorated hall is over sailed by a spectacular tunnel vaulted ceiling. There are two levels of balconies with seating. The extraordinarily lavish interior design was overseen by Dean & Co of Birmingham, who worked extensively with Magnall & Littlewood on both the Morecambe and Blackpool Winter Gardens.
The Morecambe Winter Gardens had its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s, the theatre annex cinema was taken over by Moss Empires. However, declining profits in the following decades led to its closure in 1977. Although the theatre building that remains today was listed the same year, the ballroom building was demolished in 1982. In 1986, volunteers started a campaign for the restoration of the Winter Gardens. The Friends of the Winter Gardens were formed to represent the interests of the building, and they campaigned for its preservation and restoration.
In 2006, the Friends formed a charitable trust company, The Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust Ltd (MWGPT), to purchase the Winter Gardens. In 2008, the Winter Gardens were listed as one of the area's most significant features, as the main example of the remnants of the resort's nineteenth-century entertainment buildings, as part of an appraisal of the Morecambe Conservation Area. The building is now operated by the MWGPT, which, alongside help from local volunteers, has been slowly restoring the theatre and bringing it back into use.
Since 2020, the MWGPT, under new governance and leadership, has built on the work of the previous administration and made even greater progress. In October 2021, the building was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35 million injection into the government's Culture Recovery Fund. In March 2023, it received a further £2.8 million from the Cultural Investment Fund. The trust volunteers were collectively awarded the King's Award for Voluntary Service in November 2023. The ambition is to completely restore the building as a 2,300-capacity music venue. The volunteers are led by their chairwoman, Professor Vanessa Toulmin, who has researched and written extensively about working-class culture and Fairgrounds. Her family once had the fairground behind the Winter Gardens.
British postcard by Fine Lines Art. Design: Myra Weir. Caption: The Winter Gardens, Morecambe.
British postcard. Caption: Interior of the original Winter Gardens Ballroom, ca. 1950s, in the main complex and demolished in 1982.
British postcard. Photo: Alun Bull, Historic England. Caption: Burmantoft-designed entrance, Morecambe Winter Gardens.
British postcard. Photo: Paul White. Original Winter Gardens Theatre Box Offices in the Foyer, restored by the volunteers from 2020 onwards.
British postcard. Photo: Paul White. Caption: Ceramic Entrance Floor to Morecambe Winter Gardens Theatre, designed by Campbell Tile Company (1897), restored by Rieveley Ceramics in 2024.
British postcard. Photo: Paul White. Caption: Winter Gardens Staircase to the Circle and Gods after restoration on both the plaster ceiling and ceramic features.
British postcard. Photo: Damien Rose. Caption: Morecambe Winter Gardens 'The Gods'.
Boom years with celebrities
The Morecambe Winter Gardens on Marine Drive Central opened as a music hall and was designed by Mangnall & Littlewood, who also built the Empress Ballroom and Second Opera House in Blackpool, in consultation with the renowned Theatre Architect Frank Matcham. It consisted of the theatre, ballroom, restaurants and gardens at the rear. Originally called the Victoria Pavilion and Oriental Ballroom, the Winter Gardens music hall was opened to the public in 1897. One of its main features was a 118-foot roof span, which was considered the largest in the world for a place of entertainment. It was not just the roof span that could boast a claim; the stage was larger than any of its London contemporaries.
In 1898 it was rebuilt internally for £100,000, adding an upper circle and bringing the total seating capacity to 2200. Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the Victoria Pavilion and Oriental Ballroom were renamed the King's Pavilion and Empress Ballroom. These two buildings widened the range of entertainment that the site provided at its key position on the Promenade. The original capacity of the two buildings was in excess of 6,000 people, with the Winter Gardens Theatre now capable of holding 2,500.
From 1897 onwards it played host to large musical concerts including the Halle Orchestra, the Morecambe International Festival – including Elgar in 1903 to 1905 – and stars of stage and screen. After a slump that saw the owners go into liquidation, the building was eventually purchased by WH Broadhead and Sons’ Variety Circuit, owners of many Northern theatres at the time. More building and renovation work saw the addition of a further balcony in 1909. The Winter Gardens remained under Broadhead’s control until 1933 when it was purchased by a group of businessmen for £24,000.
After large-scale renovations, it reopened in 1934 and slowly grew to be one of the most important theatres in the country. Many acts were to be seen there even before they appeared in London. The 1930s and 1940s were its boom years, with celebrities including George Formby, Gracie Fields, and Laurel and Hardy treading the boards. Vera Lynn, Max Wall, Beryl Reid and Frankie Howerd all performed there, as did Morecambe & Wise and many other variety acts. Later, the Who and the Rolling Stones gave concerts at the Winter Gardens.
In 1953 the Moss Empire took controlling interest, and again renovation work was carried out on the already impressive interior. In 1959, the film The Entertainer (Tony Richardson, 1960) starring Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice, an old-time British music hall performer, was filmed in and around Morecambe. The final scenes were shot on the stage of the Winter Gardens. After Moss leased the theatre to Entam, the entertainment division of Trust House Forte in 1968, the ballroom was converted into Dixieland Palace Show bar and The Coral Reef Bar. The theatre remained intact, operating regular shows up until 1977 when its operating licence expired. For years before, there had been little maintenance to both inside and outside of the building, and a damming report was the final nail in the coffin. In its heyday, the Winter Gardens was a sparkling example of the entertainment venues that were the essence of English seaside towns, and now a new chapter begins.
Morecambe Winter Gardens, Morecambe, England, 2025. Photo: Paul van Yperen.
The Winter Gardens, Morecambe, England, 2025. Photo: Paul van Yperen.
The fully restored inlaid stone floor of the entrance. The Winter Gardens, Morecambe, England, 2025. Photo: Paul van Yperen.
Poster for Morecambe Winter Gardens. Exhibition In the Spotlight: a history of black performers in Morecambe, Maritime Museum, Lancaster, 2025. Photo: Paul van Yperen.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 978. Photo: Cannons. American-born singer Elisabeth Welch (1904-2003) made several memorable guest appearances in cabaret sequences in British films of the 1930s and 1940s. She starred opposite Paul Robeson in two features. She was one of the black performers who performed in the Winter Gardens.
Photo of an old Morecambe Winter Gardens poster, probably early 1910s. Exhibition In the Spotlight: a history of black performers in Morecambe, Maritime Museum, Lancaster, 2025. The three-reeler film Robinson Crusoe announced here perhaps refers to the 1913 American Bison film production by Otis Turner, starring Robert Z. Leonard. Photo: Ivo Blom.
Reproduction of an old photo of the auditorium at the Morecambe Winter Gardens. Exhibition In the Spotlight: a history of black performers in Morecambe, Maritime Museum, Lancaster, 2025. Photo: Ivo Blom
British postcard. Photo: Hamilton Kaye Collection. National Fairground Archive. University of Sheffield Library. Caption: 'Hamilton Kaye'. Hamilton Kaye (1921-2006) was known for magic shows and for his magic business. He also used other performing names such as Wizard Kaye, Ron Dalmo and briefly as Milton Kaye.
British postcard by The Badger Press, Westbury, Wiltshire, Ref. M.7. Photo: John Coleman. Programme of the Winter Gardens in Morecambe, Great Britain, of 1955, 31 October 1955. Main attraction was the Australian illusionist The Great Levante and his magical "How's Tricks". Caption: Third World Tour. A Bombshell of Bewilderment. Tons of Illusions. 20 Highly Skilled Assistants. Singers, Dancers, Comedians and Novelty Acts. Two Hours without a Blush, A Real Family Show. This and 1000 Other Surprises.
British poster postcard by Ribble Bus Company. Caption: Morecambe for top-line entertainment. Caption: Ribble Bus Company Advertising Poster for Morecambe with a Spanish flavour, reflecting the growing competition faced by Morecambe in the early 1960s onwards.
Sources: Morecambe and Wise, Arthur Lloyd, Mike Higginbottom, Interesting Times, University of Sheffield, National Fairground and Circus Archive, Theatre Trust, Visit Lancashire, Morecambe Winter Gardens, IMDb and Wikipedia.
