Majority of Burnley public supports ongoing restoration works at Grade II listed Empire Theatre

Burnley Empire Trust (BET), which has been working towards restoring and reopening the historic venue, was reminded how much support there is to see the unique venue restored to its former glory, after recently showcasing two images of the previous exterior.

Music hall

The Burnley Empire was originally built in 1894 as a purpose-built music hall on the site of the then discussed Newtown Mills, formerly Tunstill’s spinning mill. The Empire was then redesigned by the renowned theatre designer Bertie Crewe who was also building the Shaftsbury Theatre in London simultaneously.

Today the large capacity venue retains much of its original decorative features throughout the whole of auditorium, but the outside remains a shadow of its rich history.

BET, which has been carrying out stabilisation building works since September 2020, recently asked the public how they’d like a restored Burnley Empire exterior to look using a photograph from the Bob Hayhurst Collection taken around 1910 and a photograph taken by Keith Nash in the 1980s as examples.

BET chairman Sophie Gibson said the response from the public was overwhelming.

“We’ve always had the ambition to restore the exterior but to be able to do that, we first need to work from the inside out. It’s been a challenging task to find images of the Empire with only a few emerging over the past few years including some of the Burnley Light Opera Society performances from the Burnley Civic Trust Heritage Image Collection archive,” she said.

Get in touch

Sophie added: “We’d love to see as many photos as possible to help build a picture of the changing history of the venue and welcome anyone to get in touch with us through email: [email protected] or post at Burnley Empire Trust, 1st Floor, Block C The Wharf, Manchester Road, Burnley, Lancashire, BB11 1JG.”

Historic England recently carried out an in-depth investigation into the construction and history of the building and continue to be supportive of the Trust’s efforts to put the venue back into use.

BET is currently waiting to hear from two grant applications including the Shared Prosperity Fund which if successful would enable the Trust to be a step closer towards safe public access.