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Great Britain - Derby Hippodrome - Sept 19 | Oblivion State Urban Exploration

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Great Britain Derby Hippodrome - Sept 19

BikinGlynn

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The Derby Hippodrome was a purpose built theatre and Variety house and had a 2,300 capacity. It was converted in 1930 into an 1,800 seat cinema, becoming a theatre once more for only 9 years until 1959. Three years later the theatre was purchased by Mecca Group who converted the theatre into a Bingo Social Club.



The building is a large Grade II listed variety theatre built in 1914. It is a rare survival from an early stage in the crossover period when buildings were being constructed for both live theatre and cinema. This building form proved to be the model for most cinema design from the 1930s onwards.



I was amazed to read the theatre trust are trying to save this (presumably because of the significance of this building as mentioned above) & say work could start in 2020.

Personally I think its too far gone and Im surprised its not been pulled down as a matter of public safety given its town centre location.



The explore



Did this as a solo on way back from a day out with HughieDW, you can find his report from earlier in the year here https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/ma...byshire-june-2019-a.html?highlight=hippodrome

In an unusual nervous moment I found myself calling Hughie while in there asking if he was sure the floor was safe to walk on which he assured me it was...Im still not convinced!



Anyway if nothing else its quite photogenic!

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Unbelievably it used to look like this

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Yeah looks solid enough!

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Dosent look so good from underneath

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Due to already going 20min over my parking ticket I failed to get any externals, so heres one I stole

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Thanks For Looking
 

The_Raw

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Looks like an absolute death trap! Good luck to them trying to save it
 

jones-y-gog

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Good god, trying to save that's a bit optimistic
 

AndyK!

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I'm not really sure what they can save from this place. Are the homeless people still living in there?
 

Grindle

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The Derby Hippodrome was a purpose built theatre and Variety house and had a 2,300 capacity. It was converted in 1930 into an 1,800 seat cinema, becoming a theatre once more for only 9 years until 1959. Three years later the theatre was purchased by Mecca Group who converted the theatre into a Bingo Social Club.



The building is a large Grade II listed variety theatre built in 1914. It is a rare survival from an early stage in the crossover period when buildings were being constructed for both live theatre and cinema. This building form proved to be the model for most cinema design from the 1930s onwards.



I was amazed to read the theatre trust are trying to save this (presumably because of the significance of this building as mentioned above) & say work could start in 2020.

Personally I think its too far gone and Im surprised its not been pulled down as a matter of public safety given its town centre location.



The explore



Did this as a solo on way back from a day out with HughieDW, you can find his report from earlier in the year here https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/ma...byshire-june-2019-a.html?highlight=hippodrome

In an unusual nervous moment I found myself calling Hughie while in there asking if he was sure the floor was safe to walk on which he assured me it was...Im still not convinced!



Anyway if nothing else its quite photogenic!

View attachment 75839


Unbelievably it used to look like this

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View attachment 75843


Yeah looks solid enough!

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Dosent look so good from underneath

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View attachment 75854


Due to already going 20min over my parking ticket I failed to get any externals, so heres one I stole

View attachment 75855


Thanks For Looking
Nice one Glynn, looks pretty sketchy in there.
 

BikinGlynn

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I'm not really sure what they can save from this place. Are the homeless people still living in there?

No, dont think even they r mad enough to stay in there!
 

Maniac

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Oh boy this place caused a stir 12 years back. So the reason it's ended up in the state it's in is because the owner back in 2008 wanted to demolish it and build a car park (or something like that) and under the guise of "essential repairs' demolished a good section of the building. There was a lot of local opposition at the time and appeals to the council to reopen it as a theatre. Prior to this it wasn't actually in bad shape. It's a shame they've never had the funding to get the building repaired after that debacle and it's just sat there. If you look it up there's info on the whole affair on news websites.

https://pressreleases.responsesourc...hocked-by-the-demolition-of-derby-hippodrome/

Great to see some pics from there again even if it is sad to see the state of it these days. I really hoped it would have had something done with it after all this time.
 

BikinGlynn

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Oh boy this place caused a stir 12 years back. So the reason it's ended up in the state it's in is because the owner back in 2008 wanted to demolish it and build a car park (or something like that) and under the guise of "essential repairs' demolished a good section of the building. There was a lot of local opposition at the time and appeals to the council to reopen it as a theatre. Prior to this it wasn't actually in bad shape. It's a shame they've never had the funding to get the building repaired after that debacle and it's just sat there. If you look it up there's info on the whole affair on news websites.

https://pressreleases.responsesourc...hocked-by-the-demolition-of-derby-hippodrome/

Great to see some pics from there again even if it is sad to see the state of it these days. I really hoped it would have had something done with it after all this time.

Yeah Id heard that story, pretty crazy & as said it now seems pretty unsaveable!
 
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