Dancing In the Street

As I mentioned the other day, the weather here has been wonderful and on Saturday the town centre was buzzing. These guys were promoting the bar behind them by taking to the street for a bit of salsa dancing. The music was loud and quite a few people had stopped to watch. The dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves which in turn put a smile on the faces of the passing shoppers.

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Walking In The Air

The subject of today's post isn't the signpost with the pigeon sitting on the top (lovely as it is) but the skywalk in the background. I know many cities around the world have these, some to protect people from extreme cold winter weather others to link buildings together. That is what this one does. It links the Regent Arcade shopping centre with Cavendish House department store. The glass covered walkway bridges Regent Street below and is home to Cafe Roma, a nice place for a light bite or a refreshing drink, as long as you don't mind the passing shoppers and the traffic below!

Do you have a skywalk in your home town?
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Tables And Chairs 2

A few other DP bloggers are taking part in this series and not being one to come up with anything original myself I jumped on the bandwagon! These wet tables and chairs were outside a small cafe in Regent Street. Not surprisingly nobody was choosing to eat al fresco on that day!

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Black And White

Late post today due to a late night and hangover! Its bank holiday Monday in the UK today so last night we had some friends over for a few drinks, which turned into a lot of drinks! I was planning to show Tewkesbury Food Festival but couldn't stomach it, it'll have to wait until tomorrow! Instead here is a nice simple building.
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Old Doors

I'll start today's post with my recurring line - not a lot to say about this one. Regular readers will know that in Cheltenham we have a large department store called Cavendish House (Cav, if you're local!) and its all very grand and upmarket, so these doors are definitely not their front doors! These ones are on a dilapidated building, on the road that runs behind the store. The building that holds these doors up is now used as a place that teaches martial arts but I bet that it was once Cav's store shed. Just call me Sherlock!

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Theatre For Everyman

As promised yesterday, here is The Everyman Theatre in Regent Street.

The theatres architecture is the design of renowned theatre creator Matcham and was opened on October 1st 1891, as The New Theatre And Opera House, with the first production being Lady Clancarty. In the theatres early years the main performances were of classical plays and operas, although Charlie Chaplin did perform too. In 1925 the theatre changed hands and was run by a group staging ballet, plays, opera and comedy. During the Second World War the theatre saw an influx of West End stars, as London theatres were closed, these included the legendary John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier. After the war the popularity of Cinema grew and the audience numbers at the theatre fell dramatically, causing the building to be sold to the Cheltenham Corporation. They failed in rejuvenating the theatre and the building was passed on to a group of businessmen, who too failed to stop the rot and in June 1959 it was announced that The New Theatre would close.

Luckily for the theatre a small group of local people formed the Cheltenham Theatre Association (still in existence today) and, with the support of the local Council, they had the newly refurbished theatre up and running by May 1960. It was at this point the theatre was renamed The Everyman, to represent it being for one and all, and it set up its own repertory theatre company, instead of the touring venue it had been in the past. Many rising stars of the day worked at The Everyman, but by the end of the 70's audience numbers were falling again and the building was showing its age. In 1983 a £3 million refurbishment was started, with the backstage area being completely rebuilt. By 1990 repertory theatre was losing its popularity and The Everyman returned to hosting touring companies. The theatre now has a cafe bar and small additional theatre, called The Other Space, where workshops and smaller productions are staged.

I've seen numerous shows at the theatre including comedian Greg Proops, Saturday Night Fever, spiritual medium Derek Accorah and, last year, The Rocky Horror Show (which was brilliant!). The Everyman continues to be well supported and has a huge variety of productions, catering for all tastes. Lets hope it carries on for another 116 years!

Its All In The Detail

Lets face it (excuse the pun!) the small details of buildings make them stand out from the crowd. This face is one of several above the windows of Cheltenhams theatre, The Everyman. The imposing building stands on Regent Street and is a great looking place. It has all sorts of little details that add up to create an impressive facade. Check back tomorrow to see the theatre in full!