It once hosted Eric and Ernie and a boxing kangaroo – now it’s all pigeons and decay. How did Hulme Hippodrome fall so low?

It showcased the biggest stars of the day, including Stan Laurel, Harry Houdini, Morecambe and Wise and Shirley Bassey, before becoming a bingo hall, a church and a squat. It was almost turned into flats. What next for Manchester’s forgotten music hall? It doesn’t look like much from the outside. An inelegant, industrial redbrick block; if you didn’t know, you might guess it’s a biscuit factory. Make that a former biscuit factory, because this is clearly somewhere that was rather than is: ent...

By Words by Sam Wollaston, Photography by Christopher Thomond