Why the history and heritage of St Annes Palace is being recognised with a blue plaque
"Everywhere should have a community hub such as The Palace"
St Annes Palace, in the very heart of town in Garden Street, opened in 1900 as the Public Hall and Assembly Rooms.
It was the first large-scale entertainment building in St Annes at a time when the town was little more than a quarter century old and very much still growing.
Soon afterwards, it became the Public Hall Picturedome and by 1922, was extended to the Palace Cinema and Cafe, including a ballroom, concert hall and restaurant, and was a focus of community life for many years afterwards, including time as a market.
In the late 1950s, it was acquired by the Freemasons and was a closed shop to the vast majority of the Fylde population for decades.
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But in 2015, its doors were opened again to the community by Friends of St Annes Palace - a joint venture between the Freemasons and representatives of the local community, consisting of 14 trustees with the aim of promoting the premises as a community hub.
Since then, it has hosted a while host of events, including being a weekly home to the Just Good Friends companionship group since soon after its reopening to the community.
Just Good Friends founder Bev Sykes, who was among the original trustees of the Friends of the St Annes Palace. says of the venue: "We were looking for a new venue and the Palace is ideal
"These facilities being made available and having them all under one roof makes a massive difference to the community. Previously, potential meeting places in the area had been so scattered.
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"Everywhere should have a community hub such as The Palace."
The blue plaque has been installed jointly by Lytham St Annes Civic Society and St Annes Town Council and representatives of both, as well as Masonic representatives and others, were at the plaque unveiling ceremony performed by St Annes town mayor Coun Karen Harrison.
The Palace, situated above St Annes Market Hall, consists of some 2,000 sq ft of space, prime among it the main hall, which offers a capacity of 150, while there is a range of other smaller rooms ideal for all sorts of meetings and events.