Blackpool Tower - Tower Ballroom

Tower Ballroom

The original ballroom, the Tower Pavilion opened in August 1894. It was smaller than the present ballroom and occupied the front of the tower complex. The Tower Ballroom was built between 1897 and 1898 to the designs of Frank Matcham who also designed Blackpool Grand Theatre and it opened in 1899. It was commissioned by the Tower company in response to the opening of the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens. The ballroom floor is 120 ft (37 m) x 120 ft and is made up of 30,602 blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut. Above the stage is the inscription, "Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear" from the poem Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare. Each crystal chandelier in the ballroom can be lowered to the floor to be cleaned which takes over a week.

From 1930 until his retirement in 1970 the resident organist was Reginald Dixon, known affectionately as "Mr. Blackpool". The first Wurlitzer organ was installed in 1929, but it was replaced in 1935 by one designed by Reginald Dixon. Ernest Broadbent took over as resident organist in 1970 until he retired due to ill health in 1977. The current resident organist is Phil Kelsall who has been playing the organ at the Tower since 1975 when he started in the circus. Phil became resident in the ballroom in 1977.

The ballroom was damaged by fire in December 1956, and the dance floor was destroyed along with the restaurant underneath the ballroom. Restoration took two years and cost £500,000, with many of the former designers and builders coming out of retirement to assist, the restaurant then became the Tower Lounge.

The BBC series Come Dancing was televised from the Tower Ballroom for many years and it has also hosted shows from Strictly Come Dancing, including the grand finals of the second and ninth series, on 11 December 2004, and 17 December 2011 respectively.

The Blackpool Junior Dance Festival ("Open to the World") has been held each year in the ballroom since 1964. Also the World Modern Jive Championships are held annually.

Dancing was not originally allowed on Sundays; instead, sacred music was played. The ballroom also originally had very strict rules including:

• "Gentlemen may not dance unless with a Lady" and

• "Disorderly conduct means immediate expulsion".

The ballroom has had a number of resident dance bands including Bertini and his band, and Charlie Barlow. Other smaller dance bands have also appeared as residents including the Eric Delaney Band and the Mike James Band.

Under the management of Leisure Parcs, and the direction of bandleader Greg Francis, the Blackpool Tower Big Band was reformed in 2001 after an absence of 25 years. The New Squadronaires, The Memphis Belle Swing Orchestra and The Glenn Miller Tribute Orchestra also performed. Themed nights were also introduced along with the sixteen piece orchestra, with resident singers, including Robert Young (born Robert Parkes Stockport 1953), Tony Benedict, Lynn Kennedy, and Mark Porter. In 2005 the Empress Orchestra became resident in the ballroom alongside the specially created and smaller Empress Dance Band.