Yesterday I was in town and looking up at the building opposite Rapid Hardware - Central hall - it occured to me that I think this is the only building that hasn't made an appearance or been mentioned on our forum.

Or has it ??

Can't recall seeing any pics of it - old or new.

I was wishing I had my camera yesterday.

Yesterday I was in town and looking up at the building opposite Rapid Hardware - Central hall - it occured to me that I think this is the only building that hasn't made an appearance or been mentioned on our forum.

Or has it ??

Can't recall seeing any pics of it - old or new.

I was wishing I had my camera yesterday.

Central Hall - used to be a church gathering meeting, and more recently the Barcelona Bar before now becoming the home of Quiggins. The interior goes for miles and is so nice inside - they've opened up lots more than you could originally go in so take a browse on the inside!

I didn't know Quiggs was in there ! :shock: ... what planet am I on !! ? :D

When did they move in there ? Can't understand how I missed this.

I will go in there for a browse soon.

I did go in Central Hall many years ago - 1973. I only went in one room upstairs for a meeting. I can't remember much about it except for the big staircase. I'd like to go in there again to refresh my memory.

Central Hall

I took this pic in 2003.
Link (http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/liverpoolimages/images/renshawst2.jpg)

Kev, would you make a separate thread for Central Hall, please?
I consider it one of Liverpool's great buildings.

Sorted :PDT_Piratz_26:

Didn't Quiggins move in, then the original two Quiggins owners/creators got told they weren't needed anymore, and so were basically screwed? If the stall owners were as revolutionary as their Che Guevara t-shirts, surely they'd have boycotted Grand Central and stuck with the people that helped them in the first place? Or was the smell of money too overpowering?

Either way, it's a nice building. Haven't been in properly yet, but I will do when I get a moment...

Sorted :PDT_Piratz_26:

Thanks, Kev.

Took this a few years ago. I didn't want to post the pic while it was part of the Pic of the Day thread:PDT_Piratz_26:

http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/centralhall.jpg

CENTRAL HALL
Renshaw Street, Liverpool 1

Opened 5 December 1905

The Central Hall of the Liverpool Methodist Mission was built in 1904-5 to replace premises in Mount Pleasant. It was designed by the architects, Bradshaw and Gass.

The old Central Hall was built in 1790 as a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. In 1889 it was handed over to the Wesleyan Mission and became Central Hall. After the new Central Hall opened it was sold, and on 14 December 1908 it opened as The New Century Picture Hall, one of Liverpool's first cinemas.

The formal opening of the Liverpool Central Hall (Charles Garrett Memorial) in Renshaw Street took place on Tuesday, 5 December 1905. Sir Henry H. Fowler opened the Large Hall and the Lord Mayor was present. On the following Saturday the first Saturday Night Popular Concert took place, and right from the start a film show was included. Admission was only 2d, and the Saturday night concerts were a great success.

The Sun Hall in Kensington was to be the largest venue in Liverpool to show films. It could seat 4500, and it showed films between 1907 and 1910 . The Central Hall which could hold a maximum of about 4000 people was the second largest place to show films in Liverpool.

In the Liverpool Echo, dated 28 October 1922, the mixing of religious services with cinema shows was explained thus by the Reverend T.A. Turney:
"Cinematograph entertainments are given every Saturday night from the first Saturday in October to the last in March. They were designed to introduce "down-and-outers" to the (Methodist) Mission. Our prices of admission are 3d and 5d. We have an organ recital, a hymn, and short prayer, and then a concert, followed by one long picture.
"Though we select our pictures very carefully, we have no difficulty in finding those of the right type. The films include such as "Torn Sails", "All Sorts and Conditions of Men", by Walter Besant, and "Andy Hardy".
"We have very large crowds at the concerts, and also at the Sunday night services. We can seat 2300, but often we are packed so early that I have to begin the service a quarter of an hour before time.
"As I have said, the concerts and services are designed for those whom others might term "undesirables", and a great deal of good is being done."

By the 1930s the Central Hall advertised these shows as the Saturday Cinema, and they continued right up to the 1940s.

In 1931 an official count of the seating capacity revealed that there were a total of 3576 seats. There were 1788 in the Large Hall, 102 in the Orchestra, 858 in the stalls, and 828 in the balcony.

In 1933 the old Philharmonic Hall was destroyed in one of Liverpool's most spectacular fires, and until 1939, when the new hall opened, the Liverpool Philharmonic Society played at the Central Hall.

The Central Hall Saturday Cinema reopened on 1 January 1944.

In May 1990 the Methodists put the hall up for sale because they could no longer afford the upkeep of the building. Merseyside Film Institute then wanted to use the Grade II Listed building as a Regional Film Theatre. The building would have been perfect (if a trifle large). It still contained a built-in projection room. However, nothing came of this, and the hall changed hands.

Major restoration work was undertaken on the building in 1997/8, which reopened in November 1998 as licensed premises called Grand Central.

It was reopened in Aug 2006 by some of the traders from Quiggins.

That's great. Thanks for the info PhilipG.
Also the excellent pic from ScouserDave.

I didn't know much at all about this building, only that it was once used as a meeting place for Christian groups. I didn't know it had been a cinema or that the Phil society had played there.

I went there in the 1970s to attend a seminar for a cosmetics company. :)

That's great. Thanks for the info PhilipG.
Also the excellent pic from ScouserDave.

I didn't know much at all about this building, only that it was once used as a meeting place for Christian groups. I didn't know it had been a cinema or that the Phil society had played there.

I went there in the 1970s to attend a seminar for a cosmetics company. :)

It was also hired out for meetings.
When I worked at Ford's, we had our strike meetings there, as well as at the Stadium (another subject for a thread).

I remember going there with my dad when he had a union meeting in the 70s.

Philip. Where did Bryant & May have their strike meetings? :)

I remember going there with my dad when he had a union meeting in the 70s.

Philip. Where did Bryant & May have their strike meetings? :)

Somewhere sandy, I think. :celb (23):

Hopefully this building has proper Fire escapes unlike the old Quiggins building.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/123/381752209_eae44eafa7_o.jpg

I think the central hall is perfect for the new quiggins, much better than the other building it's got so much character.
Thank you Phil for all that info on the history of the building - would have loved to have been to the old cinema!!
I am in the process of putting an application together to do a multimedia performance in one of the units at Grand Central and think it would be great to get hold of some of the old movies that were shown at the cinema.

^^Welcome to the forum^^ :celb (23)::celb (23):

A new member.:PDT_Piratz_26:

I think the central hall is perfect for the new quiggins, much better than the other building it's got so much character.
Thank you Phil for all that info on the history of the building - would have loved to have been to the old cinema!!
I am in the process of putting an application together to do a multimedia performance in one of the units at Grand Central and think it would be great to get hold of some of the old movies that were shown at the cinema.

Welcome katy-anne.
There's a chance that the films were advertised in the local press at the time.
The Record Office at Central Library have the newspapers on microfilm.
There is still a projection room at Central Hall, and it might still be possible to show films (but the projectors are no longer there).
I was in the building on an Open Day in 2004, but my camera was terminally sick that day, and I've only got a couple of grainy B&W shots.

Didn't they also have punk / metal / hardcore gigs there at one point in the early 90s?

Didn't they also have punk / metal / hardcore gigs there at one point in the early 90s?

I don't know, but The Comedy Club was there before they moved to the Royal Court.
The Royal Court was (& is) a music venue.

Didn't they also have punk / metal / hardcore gigs there at one point in the early 90s?

Yes they dd, I think the Cro Mags and a few others played there

I seem to remember a 'Dole'/Unemployment Office being in Central Hall at some time in the 1950s.
Can anyone confirm that ?

Phredd

I seem to remember a 'Dole'/Unemployment Office being in Central Hall at some time in the 1950s.
Can anyone confirm that ?

Phredd

There was a Dole phredd at the Top end of Upper Newington Street Behind Central Hall near Mt Pleasant in the Late 60's early 70's.How long it was there before that though I haven't got a Clue..

The Dole was in Renshaw Hall in Benson Street.
Previously it was in that Edwardian building in Leece Street, where the hoardings now are.

The Dole was in Renshaw Hall in Benson Street.
Previously it was in that Edwardian building in Leece Street, where the hoardings now are.

Appologies Phil,The Dole was in Benson Street and the entrance was at the Top (Renshaw Hall) when I left School and signed on there in 1972/73..

Yes, Grand Central Hall now is host to some of the traders who moved from Quiggins after its closure mid-2006, however since then many new shops have opened.

Forgetting about the alternative culture side of things, the one fantastic thing this has meant is that the place is open to the public once more bringing many people in through the doors ona daily basis.

The metalwork designs on the ground floor won an award and the domed ceiling in Roscoe Hall on the first floor is quite impressive too - as is the Organ which I believe is a listed item.
Okay, it is slightly obscured due to the shops being erected inside the hall, but it is still there.

Using existing buildings filled with architecture and steeped in history in this way should be the way forward - not just demolition and building soul-less steel blocks. (Anyone want to develop the Futurist?????)

The amount of money being poured into wiping Liverpool's rich architectural heritage off the face of the city (with this I mean the older warehouse buildings) will make Liverpool like any other major urban area.
It is a shame.

:handclap: Long Live Grand Central Hall - http://www.grandcentralhall.com:handclap:

Just thought I'd let you know.

Central Hall isn't anything to do with Quiggins, or the people who run Quiggins.

Quiggins is still alive on a much smaller scale, for the time being. Check out the Official Website and read the history of Quiggins, below:-

Quiggins Website (http://quiggins.com/History/index.html)

Mikey