Liverpool Empire Theatre

The site's first theatre, which at that time was Liverpool's largest, was named the "New Prince of Wales Theatre and Opera House" opened on 15 October 1866. On 29 July 1867 its name was changed to the "Royal Alexandra Theatre and Opera House" in honour of Princess Alexandra, Princess of Wales. It closed for the final time on 16 February 1924, and was demolished. By 2002 the theatre was owned by Clear Channel Entertainment.

The entrance foyer is on the ground level, with stairs to the balcony on both sides of the foyer. The seats are raked both to the sides and to the rear in order to improve the lines of sight. The internal decoration is in Louis XVI style. It contains "many curious decorative features including carved elephant caryatids".

The Empire Theatre continues to stage productions in various genres, including musicals, pop concerts, comedians, plays, opera, and wrestling. The theatre is reputed to be haunted by at least two ghosts, one a former painter at the theatre called Len, the other a girl aged about nine or ten in Victorian dress. As of 2011 the Empire is part of the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG). Each year a musical is produced at the theatre performed by participants in Stage Experience, a two-week summer school in which local youngsters take part in performing a full-scale musical with a professional team. This began in 2007 with Summer Holiday, followed by The Wiz in 2008, Bugsy Malone in 2009, Fame in…