# Theatre Royal, Merthyr Tydfil (Pic Heavy



## jongriff (Dec 24, 2012)

I have passed the old Theatre Royal, Merthyr Tydfi on the way to work for over a year & it's always intrigued me. Due to the poor condition of the outside, the owners currently having it made safe & I happened to be in the right place at the right time. First a bit of history:

Merthyr had a history of travelling theatre companies performing in the market square from the early 1850's & eventually had their own theatre that opened in 1891, which then went onto being a cinema that showed it's final film in 1966 (unable to find out when live shows stopped). Finally like so many before it was turned into a bingo hall, until it finally closed in 1990's

The building has been negleted & victim of thieves, stripping the lead off the roof. The upper circle & some of the floor to the cellar/ boiler room is rotten & unsafe. In the main hall the ceiling has collapsed by the bar, toilets and old changing rooms.

Finally onto the pictures:




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Behind the stage, you can see the old organ pipes.




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These old wooden music sheet stands were found under the stage.




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Stage lights




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Under stage storage.




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Wooden beer bottle box




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The old projection room, didn't spend long here has loads of pigeon droppings




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Hope you enjoyed the pics, There are more that I'll try add soon.


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## sweet pea (Dec 25, 2012)

great looking place love the pics


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## flyboys90 (Dec 25, 2012)

Sad sight,thanks for sharing.


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## MrDan (Dec 25, 2012)

Definitely looks like this place has seen some better days, very interesting to see the organ pipes and the old tickets, thanks. 
Looks like you've got double img tags though.


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## jongriff (Dec 25, 2012)

yea, been so long since I posted, forgot how lol


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## MrDan (Dec 26, 2012)

Feel free to copy the text below and edit your original post, should solve your img tag problem.

```
[FONT="Times New Roman"][SIZE="3"]I have passed the old Theatre Royal, Merthyr Tydfi on the way to work for over a year & it's always intrigued me.  Due to the poor condition of the outside, the owners currently having it made safe & I happened to be in the right place at the right time.  First a bit of history:

Merthyr had a history of travelling theatre companies performing in the market square from the early 1850's & eventually had their own theatre that opened in 1891, which then went onto being a cinema that showed it's final film in 1966 (unable to find out when live shows stopped).  Finally like so many before it was turned into a bingo hall, until it finally closed in 1990's

The building has been negleted & victim of thieves, stripping the lead off the roof.  The upper circle & some of the floor to the cellar/ boiler room is rotten & unsafe.  In the main hall the ceiling has collapsed by the bar, toilets and old changing rooms.

Finally onto the pictures:
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302110610/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8501/8302110610_d01a999067.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301059349/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8079/8301059349_4e2fa74b00.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301059829/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8362/8301059829_451f14f768.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301058993/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8358/8301058993_7e1b19c022.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302112858/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/8302112858_b64a742f81.jpg[/img][/url]
Behind the stage, you can see the old organ pipes.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301060601/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8359/8301060601_91e4e54454.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302113326/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8302113326_411183dd7c.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301061939/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8496/8301061939_f34db07a8e.jpg[/img][/url]
These old wooden music sheet stands were found under the stage.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301063153/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8352/8301063153_103cf4d053.jpg[/img][/url]
Stage lights

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302116000/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8361/8302116000_54412a8b91.jpg[/img][/url]
Under stage storage.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301064115/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8499/8301064115_0b3ffa2604.jpg[/img][/url]
Wooden beer bottle box

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302109108/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8071/8302109108_e448cf7ec2.jpg[/img][/url]
The old projection room, didn't spend long here has loads of pigeon droppings

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302110012/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8362/8302110012_fa332cf997.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302109538/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8351/8302109538_1c4ae20587.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8302108620/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8496/8302108620_66b145318b.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshjohn/8301055349/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8504/8301055349_15a0d14713.jpg[/img][/url]


Hope you enjoyed the pics, There are more that I'll try add soon.
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## Goldie87 (Dec 28, 2012)

Cool stuff, the organ pipes surviving is interesting to see. Just a shame about the state of the place.


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## jongriff (Dec 28, 2012)

Yea, had a couple of close calls, planks over missing floors movin, steps sounding like they were gonna giveway. Tricky in some places


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## cliffc (Dec 28, 2012)

Hi 

That computer is the ICL computer that was used to opreate the national bingo game when it 1st started, its essentaly a Sinclair OPD with 3 microdrives in the thing, connected to a printer and a monitor and the interface was based on the Prestel/Teletxt grphics, you could also use the things to log on to bulitin boards ect as thay were connected to the outside world via a modem.

Regards

Cliff C


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## jongriff (Jan 3, 2013)

cliffc said:


> Hi
> 
> That computer is the ICL computer that was used to opreate the national bingo game when it 1st started, its essentaly a Sinclair OPD with 3 microdrives in the thing, connected to a printer and a monitor and the interface was based on the Prestel/Teletxt grphics, you could also use the things to log on to bulitin boards ect as thay were connected to the outside world via a modem.
> 
> ...



Thanks Cliff, nice bit of info


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## DreadHead (Jan 21, 2013)

Looks like a pin drop could bring down that stage...

Nice pics though mate


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## jongriff (Jan 23, 2013)

DreadHead said:


> Looks like a pin drop could bring down that stage...
> 
> Nice pics though mate



YEP, ur not wrong, been back again since & more ceilings have fallen down.


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