Renovations revealed that Grand Theatre had once been home to circus

As Bolton’s Grand Theatre underwent a major transformation in 1936 to allow it to show the latest movies as well as host variety shows and theatre productions, workmen uncovered part of the venue's past. Work underway at Grand Theatre, Bolton, 1936 (Picture: Newsquest) This photo shows that part of the original circus ring which had been built for the theatre when it opened in 1894 was still there. The New Grand Cirque of Varieties was home to James Newsome and his Circus Company when the venue first opened.

The circus ring was located where a stage would normally have been and the ring extended into what would have been the front orchestra stalls. By August 1895 it had been re-named the Grand Theatre and become a variety theatre, with a conventional stage replacing the circus ring. The Grand closed in 1960, reopening as a cabaret club - the Continental Theatre and then becoming the Grand Bingo Club but by 1963 it closed and the building demolished in September of that year.



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