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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2026/apr/30/it-once-hosted-eric-and-ernie-and-a-boxing-kangaroo-now-its-all-pigeons-and-decay-how-did-hulme-hippodrome-fall-so-low>
"It doesn’t look like much from the outside. An inelegant, industrial redbrick
block; if you didn’t know, you might guess it’s a biscuit factory. Make that a
former biscuit factory, because this is clearly somewhere that was rather than
is: entrances are bricked up, drainpipes hang loose, shrubs sprout from
crumbling masonry, pigeons come and go from holes in the roof. Pretty much
everything within reach of a spray can has been reached; there are tags, Marvel
characters, the perhaps surprising news that “God is dead and sheep killed
him”.
You know those rocks, though, that look like any old rocks, but when you smash
them open they have amazing, sparkling, coloured crystals inside? Amethyst and
the like. Well, this building is a bit like them. If you took a wrecking ball
to it (and it’s not inconceivable that this will happen), inside you’d find a
splendid Edwardian galleried auditorium with gilded rococo plasterwork and
plush red velvet seats … albeit covered in pigeon shit.
Sadly, I’m not going to get in to see it with my own eyes: the door that isn’t
bricked up is locked. I’ll have to learn about the interior from others who
have been inside, and from pictures. I’m walking round the outside of the
building with three members of a local campaign group who want to save the
theatre from further decline. They have ideas and plans for it, but there are
obstacles, not least the owner. We’ll come to all that. But first to the past,
a century and a quarter ago …"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
