Yates Fire .... 2009

It is a building which has mattered since it opened as The Theatre Royal and Assembly Rooms in 1868, later becoming the Free Library in 1880. Today we know it as Yates's, the wine lodge founded by Peter Yates, who, having rented part of the premises two years earlier, bought the freehold of the famous octagonal building in 1896. It's effectively an island, bordered by Talbot Road, Clifton Street and Abingdon Street, the estate mapped out by Thomas Clifton in the early 19th century, a doctor's house being here in the 1840s.

Read more at: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/history-goes-up-in-smoke-1-374051

It is a building which has mattered since it opened as The Theatre Royal and Assembly Rooms in 1868, later becoming the Free Library in 1880. Today we know it as Yates's, the wine lodge founded by Peter Yates, who, having rented part of the premises two years earlier, bought the freehold of the famous octagonal building in 1896. It's effectively an island, bordered by Talbot Road, Clifton Street and Abingdon Street, the estate mapped out by Thomas Clifton in the early 19th century, a doctor's house being here in the 1840s. 

 

Assembly Rooms, Theatre Royal, Free Library, Talbot dining rooms, teetotal tavern upstairs, Bosley Grill, music hall tavern, Carriages restaurant, Tivoli cinema ... they have all been here.

From Oscar Wilde to Lady Thatcher, Gracie Fields, miners and Right to Work marchers, Music Hall Tavern fans, right-on radicals, right-wing politicos, celebrities, cabinet ministers, and the ordinary man on the street, Yates's has had room for them all. Old ladies dropped in for Horlicks, Aussie wine, port, sherry. Those with money to burn indulged in champagne "on draught", one of the chain's greatest claims to fame. A crow's nest of supervisors used to oversee the tills and separate stalls. Just before Christmas, bosses delivered a 500,000 upgrade, the best gift Blackpool could have got, with its new-look Talbot Square conservation area. Yates's didn't get a penny from the Townscape Heritage Initiative fund.  

Another blessing? That neighbouring heritage buildings, Sacred Heart, the Town Hall, the Clifton Hotel turned Travelodge, were spared by the firefighters' skill in containing the blaze. Although in the heart of the Talbot Square conservation area, it's not a listed building, which makes it harder to enforce a rebuild restoring former glory. But whatever rises from the ashes, whether it salvages original features or not, must be in keeping with the conservation area of Talbot Square. 

 

* 1840s doctor's house on the estate laid out by Thomas Clifton

* 1868: The Assembly Rooms and Theatre Royal open

* 1880: Lord Derby opens the first free library there

 * 1883: Oscar Wilde, talking on the House Beautiful in the Assembly Rooms, is miffed that a nearby dance band attracts a bigger audience, and pockets 14 shillings from a night which leaves locals "agreeably disappointed"

* 1894: Peter Yates, founder of the chain, rents part of premises before purchasing freehold in 1896

* 1910-11: Tivoli cinema open, suffers a serious fire in 1964, patrons evacuated along with animals from the nearby pet shop

* 1930s: three retired coppers man doors and crowds form to buy champagne at 10d a glass

* 1991: Tivoli becomes Music Hall Tavern and later upmarket nightclub Addisons – more recently Wildcats (formerly Too Hot to Handle) lap dance club

                              * 2008: 500,000 refurbishment- restores some original features 

In 2018 the site saw action ! ( and even possible tunnels  - that is for another blog ) 

Planning permission was granted in 2015 for the 150-room six storey building but so far no work has begun. The design was improved after the initial proposals were rejected by councillors. Since then the site has remained vacant awaiting redevelopment. Proposals for a Tesco Express and restaurants were shelved when Premier Inn came on board with its proposals. Andrew Brown, senior estimator at Barnfield Construction, said: “We are looking forward to commencing on this really exciting project which will complement the new public realm and tram works recently carried out in the town.

* 1840s doctor's house on the estate laid out by Thomas Clifton

Read more at: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/history-goes-up-in-smoke-1-374051