This beautiful red brick building, originally the Royal English Opera House opened in 1891 and is a grade two listed building.
The Palace seats 1300 over three tiers, many of the original features have been retained including the gilded interior of the auditorium.
The foyer gets extremely busy and it is a bit of a squeeze through the crowds to get to your chosen area of the theatre.
We sat in B18 & B19 on the left-hand side of the stalls and had an excellent clear view of the stage. As with all older theatres leg room is limited, something that could be a problem for taller people.
The Queue for the toilets Ladies, was the longest I have seen for a while. However, there are 17 cubicles and an attendant directs theatre goers to the cubicles as they become available, which means that the queue moves very quickly.
The stalls bar is spacious and bright. In the evening performance there were several drink deals available which included a bottle of wine for £20.00 and 2 for 1 on various mojitos. Tubes of pick and mix sweets are on sale for £4.00, a small tub if ice cream £3.50 and a bottle of water £2.50
On the day of the visit there was no facility available to pay by card which was inconvenient, as like most people we do not carry a lot cash.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that audience members are not allowed to bring in snacks and drinks purchased from outside of the theatre. I saw many people having to throw items into the available bins.
The Palace is a lovely old theatre and in my opinion it’s almost gothic features make it a perfect venue for Harry potter and the Cursed Child.
MT
Theatretastic 