Theatre Royal Hyde
Photographs by Gerald England

The Theatre Royal in Hyde is under threat.

It opened in November 1902. In 1914 a cinema screen was added. The final live show was Annie Get Your Gun in October 1974. A second cinema was built upon the stage, resulting in Royal One and Royal Two twin cinemas, losing the title of Theatre altogether.

In 1992 the Theatre Royal closed completely and was soon on the market for sale. Following failure to attract a buyer and the listing of the building preventing its demolition, the theatre is still vacant and in need of extensive repair and restoration to return it to its former glory and enable the doors to open again.

Theatre Royal Onward is a charitable trust founded in 1999. Its aims are

• The preservation and restoration, for the public benefit, of the Theatre Royal, Corporation Street, Hyde, Cheshire, being a building of particular historical and architectural interest.
• To advance the education of the public in performing arts in particular through the acquisition, repair, maintenance and management of the Theatre Royal and continuing its use as a public venue for performances, cinema and community activities.
• To advance the education of young people in the crafts associated with the performing arts through the provision of but not exclusively theatre workshops.

Much further information can be found on the Theatre Royal Onward website

As part of a Heritage Open Weekend the theatre was open for visitors on 8th September 2006.

Another open weekend is took place on 7th & 8th September 2007

The photos below were taken mainly on these open days