The Queen's Theatre (originally Queen's Hall) is a theatre building in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It is situated in Wedgwood Place in the town centre. It is a Grade II listed building, listed on 19 April 1972. It was commissioned as Burslem's town hall, to replace the town hall built in the 1850s, and was built by the architects Russell and Cooper. Completed in 1911, after the Federation of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910 made its original purpose obsolete, the building was opened as the Queen's Theatre, a venue for drama, concerts and other entertainments. Requiring repairs, the theatre closed in 1998. From 2003 events occasionally took place; it closed again in 2014.
After seeing the theatre crop up on Instagram around this time, we were instantly taken aback by the absurdly grand architecture and wanted to go badly, as I think a lot of others did, too. However, the second or third lockdown was drawing nearer, making us visit on the night it occurred, leaving shortly before the midnight deadline. Everything ran smoothly and we were able to get around the majority of the building until our torches died, meeting another group in there.
Main hall.
The ceiling's details were beautiful and like nothing I'd seen prior.
Close-up of the seats.
A room leading into the theatre - contained an ornate, dated light.
Grand bar.
Entrance foyer.
Moving back to the magistrates court side of the building, the architecture differentiated from Greek pillars to more typical town hall design. Still, it was very impressive.
A nice hall upstairs.
Labs, probably from the college's occupation of the theatre.
The top of the grand staircase. I personally loved the bannister.
The beautiful corridor on the ground floor with a vaulted ceiling.
One of the courtrooms.
Here is the link to our documentary styled video filmed at the theatre. We cover the building's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:
