Trust House Forte

In 1968 Moss Empires leased the Winter Gardens to Trust House Forte, who handed over the administration of the complex to their leisure division Entam. It is thought that the theatre was left largely unaltered, but in1969 Entam brought in Robert Nesbitt, to convert the ballroom into the Dixieland Palace Showbar and Coral Reef Bar.

This was done by inserting a low false ceiling, thus cutting off the balcony and first floor levels from public use. The former Winter Gardens restaurant became the Golden Fry self-service restaurant, and the Parisian bar was converted into The Crystal Room Amusement Centre. The whole of the lower facade was removed, and replaced by steps leading down to the amusements.

For reasons that remain unclear, the theatre remained popular during the 1970s, but regularly made large, ultimately unsustainable financial losses. In 1974 the Black and White Minstrels Show performed for a 13 week summer season; 125,000 people watched the show during this time, but the show lost £13,000. Around 1975 the theatre went into summer-only operation, but the show by Norman Vaughan and Stars from New Faces lost a similar sum of money. In 1977 Holiday Showtime lost £14,000 over its 13 week run. The theatre closed at the end of September when the temporary operating licence expired. The last night of the season attracted a capacity crowd of 1,600 for a show by the Central Band of the RAF. The Mayor of Morecambe, Harry Holgate, told the audience it was a pity that the theatre had to close, but the City Council would do its best to see something worthy of Morecambe went on the site.

Combined with the economic problems Morecambe faced in the 1970s, it seems that poor management of the Winter Gardens by Entam contributed significantly to the decline. A general lack of structural maintenance had taken place: both the internal and external appearance of the buildings was run down, shabby, and advertisements for shows were two years out of date (Jones 1994, 6). The management of the theatre was widely criticised at the time: Richard Condon (Management) Ltd., an acknowledged theatre expert, commented ‘Management of the theatre shows a less than competent handling’ (ibid).

It is thought that one of the principal reasons Trust House Forte did not seek to extend the temporary operating licence was due to the findings contained in a confidential report by the County Architect on the structural condition of the buildings. The survey was carried out in early 1977 although not made public until later in the year. According to contemporary newspaper reports of comments made by the City Chief executive, this was due to the negative effect there might have been on audiences on the summer show (Morecambe Visitor, 12th October 1977).

In 1977 Trust House Forte announced that they were not prepared to spend the large sum of money required on essential repairs to the Winter Gardens and the theatre failed to reopen the following season. After the adjacent Dixieland Showbar closed the following year the lease holders proposed the demolition of the two buildings and the building of a new hotel, nightclub and entertainment complex on the site. In response the Winter Gardens Action Group was formed to conduct a campaign to safeguard the theatre. Due to the threat of demolition the theatre and ballroom were spot listed by English Heritage on October 7th.

After planning applications for the demolition of the ballroom were thrown out in 1980 and 1981, the Winter Gardens was sold to the Tyneside company Johnny’s Entertainment. The new owners’ planning proposals involved the demolition of the ballroom and renovation and reopening of the theatre. Listed building consent was granted for this work, and the following year the ballroom was demolished and replaced with the Pleasureland Amusements, Breakers Snooker Club and The Gardens Disco. The theatre failed to reopen, however, the owners pleading that they hadn’t realised the cost of repairing the theatre would be so great.