The Workington Opera House, or The Opera as it was known, is a purpose built theatre located in Workington, Cumbria, England. Originally built as the Queen’s Jubilee Hall & Opera House it was gutted by fire in 1927 and rebuilt with a fine wide auditorium, and Ornamental ceiling with seating for 1200. The theatre has good sightlines and a large stage and currently sits empty after its former use as a bingo hall ended in 2004.
The theatre was designed by T. L. Banks & Townsend and had a small auditorium with two balconies accommodating 1,130 people. The theatre was also equipped with a small stage with a proscenium width of 11 metres, a depth of 9.14 metres and a grid height of 14 metres. An orchestra pit for 16 musicians was also included.[1]
Graves (Cumberland) Ltd currently own the building and have planning permission for 5 years to replace the theatre with retail and residential units. Graves own many different assets across Cumbria including cinemas, bingo halls and in the past they owned and ran a number of theatres.[2]
The Workington Opera House is now under threat of demolition to be replaced with retail units and flats.[3] The Save Workington Opera House group are fighting to have this building made available to the town of Workington as a working civic theatre that the community can be proud of.[4]
