PDA

View Full Version : Anyone recognise this theatre?

Rachel A
01-06-11, 22:20
A bit of a long shot I know, yet if you don't ask etc etc... :D

Anyone recognise the theatre in the background of this photo please??

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q28/racheileanderson/eldridgefamily_3903790.jpg

I say theatre because I can make out the words on the 'roof' above the father's head. There's swans on top of that roof, but Googling Swan theatres hasn't uncovered the location.

They lived in Cheltenham, but it's no theatre there.

I'm just interested where they were when the photo was taken :)

BTW the son was born in 1931, so it's early 1950s :)
brenmac
01-06-11, 23:52
looks like london paladium... brenda xxx
Rachel A
02-06-11, 07:22
I can see why you say that Bren because of the pillars, but looking at it on Google Maps, unfortunately it's not. I did at first think that they were play posters on the right, but now see they're train advertisements! I thought that the swans on the roof would have made it quite distinctive.
Olde Crone
02-06-11, 08:35
How are you so sure it's a theatre? At first glance it looks like the back entrance of Swan and Edgar, lol!

OC
kiterunner
02-06-11, 09:40
It definitely says Theatre on that swan thing, OC.
garstonite
02-06-11, 09:59
Don`t laugh....are you sure they are swans and not Liverbirds ??...it could be the old Olympia Theatre in Liverpool or the old Playhouse theatre in Liverpool

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pictures+of+the+old+Liverpool++Theatres&view=detail&id=2134A9E0504F244E05A9D3066019DF7B0D5FF004&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR
but...Cheltenham....why would they be in Liverpool ?
allan
Olde Crone
02-06-11, 10:17
Cor, what good eyes you all have! I can only just make out the word theatre!

Does anyone agree that the people in the photo are walking up an incline, away from the theatre? That would rule out most of the West End theatres at a stroke.

OC
Rachel A
02-06-11, 10:59
I admit to have had to zoom in to read it OC! Also this is one of the wonky scanned photos sent from a cousin, so they may be on the flat after all! :d

Thanks for the link Allan, still investigating that... and why wouldn't a resident of Cheltenham want to visit Liverpool???? :confused: :D
Rachel A
02-06-11, 19:00
Don`t laugh....are you sure they are swans and not Liverbirds ??...it could be the old Olympia Theatre in Liverpool or the old Playhouse theatre in Liverpool

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pictures+of+the+old+Liverpool++Theatres&view=detail&id=2134A9E0504F244E05A9D3066019DF7B0D5FF004&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR
but...Cheltenham....why would they be in Liverpool ?
allan

Alas, it's neither of those theatres, Allan :(
Uncle John
02-06-11, 21:22
A random thought. Many moons ago there was a cartoon cinema in Victoria Station in London. So there could be trains and theatre in one place.
peppie
02-06-11, 21:54
My guess is the Criteron in Pic circus?
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/CriterionTheatre.htm

This website is a wonderful mine of photos if anyone wants to browse in case they think its somewhere else?
Rachel A
03-06-11, 07:13
Trouble is, it's a smallish entrance and then a large wall with no windows where the hoardings are. But as UJ says, it could be somewhere which no longer exists and the area's been redeveloped.

I did say it was a long shot! ;)
Rachel A
03-06-11, 07:28
The brick work of Victoria Station is very similar, although this photo has columns between pillars of stone. I've been looking at the station on Google Maps and see that the 'back' in Eccleston Bridge Road has been modernised for a Sainsburys local - perhaps that's where it was??
Rachel A
03-06-11, 07:49
UJ you genius :) :)

Take a look at the side of Victoria Station in Buckingham Palace Road on Google Maps (I love that site :)). It's not a perfect match, but very very similar. The pillars and columns of the restaurant look newer then the rest of the brickwork and could well have been the first blank wall behind the family before the columns and the wall with the hoardings on. There is a small entrance before that, which could well have been the smallish entrance to the theatre.

They would have had to use Victoria Station if they travelled from Cheltenham to Eastbourne to visit her parents and family, so perhaps were taking a walk whilst waiting for the connecting train??
Uncle John
03-06-11, 14:54
If they came to London by coach, Victoria Coach Station is not far from the Buckingham Palace Road side of Victoria Station. I have no idea about the history of the cartoon theatre.
Rachel A
03-06-11, 17:41
Thanks UJ :)