page_title: Winter Gardens, Blackpool
section_title: Empress Ballroom
hierarchical_section_title: Winter Gardens, Blackpool / Component buildings / Ground floor / Empress Ballroom
caption_attribution_description: English: Here is a photograph taken from the Empress Ballroom inside the Winter Gardens. Located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK.
context_page_description: The Winter Gardens is a large entertainment complex in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which includes a theatre, ballroom and conference facilities. Opened in 1878, it is a Grade II* listed building, operated by Blackpool Entertainment Company Limited on behalf of Blackpool Council, which purchased the property from Leisure Parcs Ltd as part of a £40 million deal in 2010.
  The Winter Gardens has hosted the annual conferences of British political parties and trade unions and its owners claim that every Prime Minister since World War II has addressed an audience at the venue.
  It has also hosted the Blackpool Dance Festival since its inception in 1920, and the World Matchplay darts tournament since 1994. The annual dance competitions Miss Dance of Great Britain and Dance Master UK are hosted there annually.
context_section_description: The Empress Ballroom was built in 1896. With a floor area of 12,500 square feet (1,160 sq. metres), the ballroom was one of the largest in the world. It was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1918 for military use during World War I, before being handed back a year later. The ballroom hosted the first Blackpool Dance Festival in 1920. It was re-floored in 1934
  In the late 1970s, some of the floor space was adapted for other purposes to reduce the venue's over-capacity. It was renamed The Stardust Garden and was intended to function as a nightclub.
  The ballroom has been used as a conference venue for many years by the Labour Party, Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats. The ballroom hosts the World Matchplay darts tournament, the Blackpool Dance Festival and the Inter Varsity Dance Competition.
  Acts such as Pet Shop Boys, The Beatles, Queen, Oasis, Radiohead, Slash and The White Stripes have performed in the ballroom. The White Stripes perform at The Empress Ballroom in their DVD and concert Under Blackpool Lights.
  It also housed a 3/14 Wurlitzer organ, much of the pipework coming from the original Blackpool Tower organ. It was played for many years by Horace Finch but was removed in 1969, eventually being broken up. A new Wurlitzer organ has more recently been installed in the Empress Ballroom by Cannock Chase Organ Club. The original console has survived and will hopefully be used in the future.
caption: Empress Ballroom
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