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Theatre Royal
Pall Mall, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent

 "The first Theatre was a small structure ; it was on the same ground as it is now, only the entrance was in Brunswick Street, and the front faced up Frederick Street—then a cul-de-sac, but it contained, in 1857, the first Mechanics’ Institution, now the School of the Primitive Methodists.
This Theatre was of poor appearance. It was the old Chapel of the Primitive Methodists. In the front of it, at one time, it had a small approach, fenced off; and two small windows; towards the apex of the gable, or roof a round hole, for ventilation.
The populace were still prejudiced with regard to these places, a prejudice inherited from the time of the Rebellion, at which time - by Act of Parliament - all ‘Theatres were suppressed.
The advent of Railways soon made possible the quicker modes of conveyance, and the discontinuance of the old “Stock” Companies.
Mr. James Rodgers was the lessee for some years, then his principal (Mr. John Windley). About 1875 a new construction was commenced which was of larger dimensions and more convenient. To this succeeded the present structure, with its entrance in Pall Mall. This latter alteration caused other fine buildings in lower Pall Mall to supersede the small yellow-washed cottages it still contained, so that this street would be unrecognisable to an absentee native, as it is to-day, with its lofty elevations."

Old Times in the Potteries, W Scarratt, 1906 

 

The Royal - after refurbishment and renaming in 1997

Sentinel 31-05-2000

Final curtain for the Royal?
The future of The Royal theatre is hanging in the balance after the announcement yesterday that owner Mike Lloyd's entertainment business empire had folded.
All shows and events booked for the venue have been cancelled and a new buyer is now being sought.
Yesterday the famous theatre on Pall Mall, Hanley was boarded up to prevent vandalism to the building.
Receivers KPMG have been called in to take over the Mike Lloyd music empire - which include the record shops, ticket promotions and the Royal - after his three companies ceased trading.
Ironically the music impresario had rescued The Royal from receivers in 1996 and then oversaw a massive £1.1 million refurbishment of the famous old building, returning it to its former glory.
If a creditors meeting, which will take place within the next three weeks, agrees to sell all the companies assets - as is expected - The Royal will be sold again.
David Chadwick, a public relations officer for KPMG, has vowed every effort will be made to save the theatre.
He said: ‘‘If at all possible it will be sold on as a theatre. If we cannot do this it will be sold for other uses.''
‘‘Our job is to realise the highest price for the assets of the business to pay the creditors.''
Mr Lloyd said he hoped the theatre could be saved but said the city could only support three theatres ‘with great difficulty'.
He said: ‘‘There is a lack of shows of quality which we can put on and there is a lack of product to go round.
‘‘In Stoke-on-Trent we haven't got a large theatre-going audience because people have lost the habit of going.''
He also said it was difficult when the Victoria Hall and The Regent had received lottery grants and council funding but The Royal had been given nothing. But he added: ‘‘I think The Royal could carry on now we have done so much to it. I think there will be a lot of buyers in the market place.''
A feasibility study used to prepare the Cultural Quarter lottery bid in 1994 warned that Stoke-on-Trent would only be able to support one large theatre for touring shows.
The report from the consultants The Arts Business said Stoke-on-Trent City Council needed to make a choice between whether to refurbish the Theatre Royal or The Regent.
Mr Lloyd did not buy the Royal until November 1996, after lottery funding had been agreed for The Regent and Victoria Hall.
Councillor Tony Pattie said he would not have thought The Regent's public funding would have led to the demise of The Royal as they catered for different audiences.

PICTURED: Mike Lloyd outside The Royal which he restored at a personal cost of £1 million

Battler who won friends and admirers in cut throat world of showbiz
By Dianne Gibbons
Mike Lloyd's life has revolved around the music industry for almost 40 years. He knows his subject intimately and has literally thousands of enthralling tales to tell. The entrepreneur tells them with the same mixture of wit and infectious enthusiasm which he puts into his work.

Mr Lloyd is passionate about the Fifties when rock 'n' roll was raw and exciting and blasted its way into Britain. By 1963, when he was just 20, the youth from Walsall was playing guitar in a rock 'n' roll band. Not just any band, but a group called The Shouts, who supported US singer Gene Vincent when he toured the UK. But life on the road travelling took its toll and Mike was diagnosed as suffering from an ulcer.
It was at this point that local businessman Terry Blood joined forces with Mike and together they formed Blood-Lloyd - a company which owned record shops and was involved in concert promotion and ticket sales.
In 1974, Blood-Lloyd split and the business was shared. Mike took control of two of the shops and the concert promotion side and the rest is history.

What North Staffordshire really has to thank Mike Lloyd for is bringing top live acts to the area.
Central to the success of this was the Victoria Hall in Hanley where big names such as The Police, Big Country, Elkie Brookes, Alison Moyet, INXS and David Essex to name but a few took centre stage. As well as rock and pop music Mike has other interests in other sections of the arts and is closely involved with the Stoke and Newcastle Musical Festival.

In November, 1996, he increased his empire by snapping up the historic Theatre Royal.
It was revamped at a cost of £1.1 million, renamed The Royal, and opened as an attractive venue for North Staffordshire's theatregoers.
Pantomime, variety, musicals - it was all there, a tempting menu to keep the punters happy.
But even his entrepreneural skills could not fight against the competition which came from the newly-opened Regent and the newly-refurbished Victoria Hall.
Just three months ago he said: ‘‘When The Regent re-opened last year many people wondered what would happen to The Royal and whether the city was big enough for the two of them.
‘‘Audiences are down but not phenomenally so, and I have no intention of closing the theatre.''
Unfortunately the pressure of the subsidised competition told and the result was this week's closure.

At the height of his success Mike was operating stores in Hanley, Newcastle, Stafford and Wolverhampton, as well as The Royal. He employed 25 full-time and 30 part-time staff.
Promoter Tony Claymore who was due to bring American singer Jack Jones to The Royal in two weeks time said: ‘‘I am totally shocked. I have dealt with Mike for 10 years and there has never been a problem.''
Mike Massey, former managing director of the former Jollees nightclub in Longton and friend of Mike Lloyd, said: ‘‘I am totally shocked.''
Angie Stevenson, a theatre historian, said: ‘‘I am completely knocked out by the news but it's not unexpected - we live in a city which just cannot support three live theatres. I have stood in the ruins of many theatres, and it chokes me to say I believe I'll be standing in the ruins of the Royal by the end of this year. Mike is the only man in the country who could make it work.''
Peter Cheeseman, a former resident director at the New Vic Theatre, said: ‘‘I have known Mike for many years and have always been a great admirer. As well as being a businessman he did a lot of voluntary work for the music industry in Stoke and Newcastle.''
‘‘This is a real shame.''

Terry King, of the former 50's rock and roll band Terry King of the Saints, staged a revival night at the Royal on Friday evening which featured rock and roll acts to an audience of 1,100.
Terry said: ‘‘I remember Mike looked deep in thought and very worried that evening - when I heard the news, it was almost like I'd had some sort of premonition.
‘‘I knew Mike from the sixties and this is just a terrible disaster. It is hard to see the Royal Theatre surviving after this - Mike is the only person I know who could make a go of it.''

Man who polished Royal's crown
By John Woodhouse
A dirty, damp, smelly theatre well past its sell by date - that was the Theatre Royal four years ago.
So it took a brave man to chuck a million at its crumbling form when most envisaged its next big production would be of a big pile of bricks in Pall Mall.
Step forward into the spotlight Mike Lloyd - a man driven by the buzz of the stage as much as the ring of the cash tills.
He had an idea to make the place live again. Forget the dusty cliched old shows, the same old plays delivered to an ever-decreasing audience, the theatre needed a fresh modern image to appeal to new audiences.
He dropped the Theatre Royal tag and instead installed a bright neon frontage proclaiming simply The Royal.
Bills included bright alternative pop acts like Super Furry Animals and Cast, as well as top quality comedians including Mark Lamarr and Paul Merton - big names which started to inject some air into an entertainment world stifled for years between Manchester and Birmingham. At the same time he never forgot the traditionalists, the rock and rollers, the Quo fans, the Ken Dodd crowd, and, importantly, the local amateur dramatists who will be shedding a collective and heartfelt tear for the loss of a treasured venue today.
But the cranes in the sky round Hanley spelt competition. Lottery handouts were seeing the transformation of the Victoria Hall and Regent Theatre.
In the space of a few months Hanley had gone from cultural void to ‘Cultural Quarter' and while Lloyd was proclaiming they could all run in tandem with each other, not everyone was convinced.
Two celebrity pantomimes would have a battle in the West End, so how could it ever work in Hanley?
The demise of The Royal will leave a gap in the city. OK, Lloyd's bookings may not have been everybody's cup of tea and the high-browed will hardly be spilling tears at The Royal's demise.
But bookings is bookings and entertainment is entertainment. For the city to lose such a large slab of its nightlife is sad.
By its very nature theatre is a risky business, and that's why venues are now generally owned by large corporations who can cover the cost of the odd knockback.
Lloyd's vision for The Royal was inflamed by his long involvement with North Staffordshire. How many others would do the same?

Sources:
Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, W. White, 1851; 1898 Cassell's 'Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland'; Old Times in the Potteries, W Scarratt, 1906; City of Stoke-on-Trent Handbook 1957; The Sentinel newspaper - Aug 16 2001; "The Royal Story" by Ray Johnson; Ted Bottle "Peoples Hall/Royal Pottery Theatre/Theatre Royal" 1995
 

updated: 25 Feb 2003