A new threat to the Kursaal

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A new threat to the Kursaal

Postby kevin » 27 Jan 2009, 19:35

The Kursaal, once only second to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, is facing yet another assault on the dignity of its memory and heritage.

Apart from being the second greatest amusement park that this country has ever seen, the famous domed entrance buildings contained a magnificent ballroom, banqueting suites, bars, and a long glazed arcade similar to the Winter Gardens at Blackpool, leading to a circus building.

After finally closing in the mid 1980's, the landmark entrance building was ripped apart by developer Brent Walker, a real Jimmy Godden of the time, and left to decay for over 10 years.

Southend council bought the building and restored it, sadly retaining only the entrance and famous dome.

The only other original salvageable part of the building was the superb art deco bar inside the entrance which was sadly ripped out and dumped into skips in order to provide space for Macdonalds. The rest of the building was demolished and rebuilt to house a faceless bowling alley and casino.

Even the famous illuminated Juggling Clown sign to the right of the building was ripped out and replaced with a cheap pastiche featuring Ronald Macdonald.

Even after this multi-million pound "restoration", which was opened in 1998 under the slogan of "The Magic Returns", the Kursaal remains, in every sense of the word a very sad shadow of itself. The entrance rotunda was superbly restored and remains impressive with its internally illuminated stained glass dome picked out externally in red neon, and moderne internally lit columns, again reminiscent of the Winter Gardens. However the rest of the building is tacky, run down or disused. Even the Macdonalds has closed down in the last couple of years and the Juggling Clown taken down.

The problem is that the council handed the restored building over to a bowling operator on a 100 year peppercorn rent and every attempt to provide quality entertainment and catering facilities, as was in the original brief, was only allowed to operate for around six months before being abandoned by the lessee. The same lessee allowed the interior of the building to fall into a disgusting state of cleanliness and disrepair.

The bowling has been taken over by another operator, but a large premium ground floor area remains empty. This is now under threat from Tesco’s-every little hurts, who are applying to open a supermarket here.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4077569 ... e_Kursaal/

Anybody who cares about our seaside and amusement park heritage should write to Southend Borough Council to object to these proposals.
kevin
 
Posts: 135
Joined: 16 Mar 2006, 17:55
Location: essex

Postby porterm » 28 Jan 2009, 23:47

This Tesco bid sounds rather unsavoury to me (forgive the pun). It's the first I've heard of it.

I wasn't aware that McDonalds had closed down on site, however, I was concerned about the general closed areas, such as the bar and amusements. I also found the upstairs region out-of-bounds on my last couple of visits too. Sadly, I have no former heyday memories of this place as when I was young Essex was somewhere my family didn't seem to venture. (I have, of course, since made up for lost time!)

I didn't even get to see the former Butlin's at Clacton, or its short-lived Atlas Park (?) theme park replacement.

I will do my best to write to Southend Council on this issue as I reckon there's been some neglect here regarding the Kursaal's management.

Martin
porterm
 
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Joined: 10 Feb 2003, 03:13
Location: Maidstone, Kent

Postby kevin » 29 Jan 2009, 12:06

Thanks Porterm, thankfully I was brought up on trips to the seaside in the late 60's-mid 70's, and these always included a trip to the Kursaal, Dreamland, Great Yarmouth PleasureBeach, and Joyland, Clacton pier and Battersea Funfair. And the great thing is that you pass these things on to your own children... My youngest son, 25, was a maintenance engineer at Alton Towers - just being promoted to maintenance supervisor. How cool is that! I'm jealous!

Some good pictures below for those who are not familier with the building.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kursaal+southend
kevin
 
Posts: 135
Joined: 16 Mar 2006, 17:55
Location: essex


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