The Parr Hall is the only surviving professional concert hall venue in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Location

The Parr Hall and Pyramid Arts Centre are located in the cultural quarter of

town centre, in Palmyra Square.

History

Parr Hall was designed by the local architect William Owen in 1895. Originally it was built for the people of Warrington by Joseph Parr. Warrington Musical Society gave the first concert. The hall has hosted concerts and organ recitals from leading orchestras and cathedral organists over the years.

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performed at the venue on 25 November 1963, The Moody Blues on 1 March 1965 and The Who on 22 March and 11 October 1965 and on 14 June 1965 The Yardbirds. The band James - having sold out concerts at much larger venues - played the Parr Hall on 20 December 1991 to record a promotional video. Other notable artists such as Beth Hart, Feeder,

The Courteeners Courteeners are an English band formed in Middleton in 2006 by Liam Fray (lead guitar/vocals), Michael Campbell (drums/backing vocals), Daniel "Conan" Moores (rhythm guitar) and Mark Cuppello (bass); the latter was replaced by the band's produc ...

, Beady Eye,

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, Shane Filan of

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, and Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel (2001, 2013 and 2017) have played at the venue, and Jools Holland is a regular performer. The Parr Hall has also hosted many famous comedians including Andy Parsons, Jimmy Carr and

Andi Osho Yewande "Andi" Osho (born 27 January 1973) is a British stand-up comedian, actress and television presenter. Life and career Osho was born in Plaistow, East London,In an interview for BBC Radio 4 Extra's ''MacAuley & Co'' in 2011 at the Edi ...

. It has also been home since 1992 to the Warrington Scouts Gang Show. The Warrington Male Voice Choir have been regular performers at the Hall for the past 100 years. The Parr Hall was the chosen venue for the first Stone Roses concert since 1996 when the band announced a last-minute show on 23 May 2012. The gig was free of charge for fans, and the tickets were sold via a wristband system at the venue from 4pm on the day. Fans needed to produce either a CD inlay cover, record sleeve, official band T-shirt or a ticket for the

Reunion Tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

shows at Heaton Park when arriving at the venue.

Cavaillé-Coll Organ

The Parr Hall is home to one of the few surviving unaltered pipe organs in the UK that was built by the great French organ builder

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ build ...

(1811–99).

Pyramid Arts Centre

In 1989 the borough council also saw a need for a better arts and theatre complex so re-developed the old courthouse and Centre Sport, sports hall next door into The Pyramid Arts Centre. The Pyramid, opened in 2002, hosts various classes throughout the year for people interested in discovering the arts. Pyramid also hosts a monthly Comedy Store Event, local band nights as well as having a varied programme of weekly classes. One of its studios was named in 2011 after the late Pete Postlethwaite.

Other theatres in Warrington

In the past there were several other theatres/concert venues in Warrington but most have either been shut down, demolished or turned into pubs and clubs. The last proper theatre to close in the town was the Crosfield Centenary Theatre, originally run by Crosfield Chemical Company (now

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), demolished in 1991. The land where this theatre stood is now a vacant fenced off patch of grass at the end of Sankey Street, due to local rules only allowing a theatre to be built on it. Padgate Academy has a studio theatre which has hosted some notable productions.

Birchwood Birchwood is a town in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 (as at the 2001 census). Although physically and administratively part of Warrington, the civil parish council has named itself a town council. His ...

High School has a theatre which has hosted productions by WAspS Drama Group, a group for people in Warrington with Asperger's Syndrome. Also Birchwood High School stage has seen performances from Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson, who was a pupil at the school. Great Sankey High School also has a notable performance venue. The new Warrington Collegiate has a new theatre, near Buckley's Restaurant on the Winwick Road Campus, and this has brought about many exciting productions by the drama students in Warrington, including ''The Rocky Horror Show'', which later went on to perform at the finals of the National Training Awards, and a one-off showcase at the Royal Horticultural Halls, LondonWarrington Collegiate News
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References