Sheffield history: Attercliffe down the ages - from the World Student Games to The Palace Theatre

Its fortunes were revived by the World Student Games in 1991 with the opening of the Arena and Don Valley Stadium followed more than a decade later by iceSheffield and the English Institute of Sport.

Don Valley was razed in 2013 – much lamented by some, others said good riddance to an expensive a white elephant.

But what of other buildings which have disappeared from the area’s landscape?

In August 1955, Sheffield bade a sad farewell to the city’s last-surviving music hall building – The Palace Theatre Attercliffe, which had been sold to a syndicate of London businessmen.

The final show was one with a difference – an auction to flog off the building’s fixtures and fittings and equipment.

Everything from curtains, backcloths and spotlights to the neon ‘Palace’s sign outside the theatre was up for grabs.

Some had not come to buy anything, but simply to say farewell to a place they loved.

Dick Walker was the saddest of all – the theatre had been in his family for 39 years.

He said The Palace was one of 50 provincial theatres to close in the previous 12 months.

“In my opinion television is the main reason why so many are shutting down. The second reason is the entertainment tax,” he told The Star.

The theatre was opened on January 1, 1898, as the Alhambra, became a cinema in 1931 and returned to variety in 1937.

Among the famous names to have trod its boards were Charlie Chaplin, who came in Fred Karno’s ‘Mummy Birds’, Sheffield singer and actor Phyllis Robins, who made her debut at Attercliffe, music hall and vaudeville entertainer Bud Flanagan and singers and comedians including Max Bygreaves and Harry Secombe.

Sitting at the back of the auditorium on auction day was comedian Nick Franks, who had been on the stage at The Palace only six months earlier.

“I have come from London just to see the auction because I have been here so many times over the past 30 years with road shows, revues and variety that I would like to buy something as a souvenir.” Alas, no details on whether he got what he wanted.

When king of the Palace was spotlight man Albert

Last man on The Palace’s payroll was 65-year-old Albert Downs, who used to control the spotlight and had met his wife in the Circle at The Palace.

“I got into a fight about her and was actually thrown out,” he recalled. “Now we have been married for 45 years.”

In the front row of the sale was Tom Hukin, who used to book seat A11 at the end of the gangway – for more leg room, one imagines – every Friday night.

He wanted to buy it but it was sold en bloc with 205 others in the first eight rows. The sale price? They went for 1s 9d each.

Many of the buyers were from other theatres – the Regent Theatre in Rotherham bought several items.

Lots included a grand piano bought by Mr Walker in 1937 for £30 which went for a substantially knocked-down bargain price of £6 10s.

And the Sheffield Playhouse snapped up a pair of 20ft 9ins wide pair of velvet curtains with valance for £22.

The building survived until 1962 when demolition work began to make was for a two-storey supermarket, car showroom and shop.

Sometimes progress just isn’t progress…