Accession Number

B124

Series Title

LOST ENTERTAINMENT

Programme Title

[NEW BRIGHTON / WHITE CITY]

Producer

[Unknown]

Other Credits

[Unknown]

Transmission Date

01/01/85

colour , sound (sep), 13 mins 24 secs

Synopsis

Programme focusing on two North West entertainment venues that have been left to ruin: New Brighton, a bustling holiday destination at the turn of the century and White City athletics stadium in Stretford, where international athletic meetings took place in the 1950s. There are various stills of New Brighton Tower, the Tower Grounds, Palace Ballroom, funfair, ornamental lake and railway and the area is shown in the present day, with new housing being built. There are stills of the dismantling of the tower after World War I and footage of a fire at the ballroom in 1969. The presenter interviews Jack Bagueley, who used to go to the tower as a child and George Cross, who managed the fairground. The programme then moves onto the White City Stadium. There are interior and exterior shots of the derelict stadium which has been vacant since the early 1980s. There are stills of the Royal Botanical Gardens on the site in 1831; exhibitions held on the site in the 1850s and 1880s and the White City Pleasure Ground built in 1907. Its more recent history is described: as an international athletics track between 1955 and 1961 and as a greyhound racing and stockcar racing venue in the 1960s and 1970s. There are interviews with Bernard Nuttal, who is researching the history of the site, and Jack Kirkby, an ex-official at the athletics meetings at White City.