The Wellington Inn used to stand next to the second Theatre Royal on Peter Street, which burnt down on 7th May 1844. The proprietors sold the land on which it stood to John Knowles who decided that he would build a bigger and better theatre. To do this he had to knock down the adjacent Wellington and Brogden's horse bazaar. The third Theatre Royal was opened the following year and the likes of Charles Dickens, John Leech and George Cruickshank appeared to crowds of a few thousand in this fine building next to the Free Trade Hall [1]. It became a cinema in 1929 and by 1972 it was a bingo hall before it lay empty for some years [2]. In 1989 it was reinvented as Discotheque Royales, a venue which probably kick started Peter Street as the place to go for a cheesy and drunken night out (guilty). Pleasingly, Royales is no more and the Theatre Royal is back to its proper use - see Arthur Lloyd's Theatre History site for a couple of photos of rehearsals taking place in summer 2010 [2].
Theatre Royal / Discotheque Royales, Peter Street. (c) swjmoore at skyscrapercity.
1. Manchester Streets and Manchester Men, Thomas Swindells (2008).
2. www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/ManchesterTheatres/TheatreRoyalManchester.htm.
2. www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/ManchesterTheatres/TheatreRoyalManchester.htm.
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