A memento of the great days of the Empire

Dudley's brand new theatre, 1903

- By ROY LANGFORD Bugle correspondent

IT’S rather captivating to think that a well-worn souvenir silk handkerchief has, wrapped up in it, memories of an event which took place well beyond a century ago.

It is perhaps the sole survivor of the grand opening of the New Empire Palace, on Wednesday May 6, 1903, which once stood majestically on the corner of Dudley Row and Hall Street in Dudley town centre.

Sadly it was demolished in the mid-1970s, and it seems we have to go back to the mid-to-late Victorian period to find a time when Dudley could lay claim to music hall fame, via the ‘Old Tin Circus’ in Dudley Row.

This establishment was owned and managed by Tom Pritchard, whose theatrical ambitions were to own a more palatial venue, and the story goes that in the true ‘razamatazz’ of showbiz tradition, he somehow begged and borrowed the incredible sum (a true fortune in those days) of £8,000 with which to build his dream new variety theatre.