Granby Halls (Drill Hall)

In 1909 a new roller rink would be built in Leicester on the junction of Aylestone Road and Welford Road. This rink was formally known as the Empress Rink and was purpose built for the boom period of roller skating between 1909 and 1912. Early in 1914 popularity was on the wane and the rink was turned into a theatre pavilion. It only enjoyed this new venture for a brief period before war broke out and the building closed its doors.

In 1915, adjacent to the old rink a temporary building was erected to be used as a training/drill hall for youngsters in preparation for when they would reach an age to become soldiers and allowed to fight in the war that was still raging across Europe. The hall was a basic four wall structure with an arched roof but did have two underground rifle ranges and its own swimming baths.

When hostilities ceased in 1918 it was decided to keep the hall and in 1919 it was joined, along with some other buildings, to the old Empress rink to form what would officially become the Granby Halls but remained as a junior training hall for a few years.

In 1929 the old Empress Hall rink was brought back to life, but this article focuses on the large drill hall. A separate article on this website deals with the Empress Hall.

From the 1930’s onwards the halls were used for various activities such as political rallies, Christmas post sorting office, election vote counting, exhibitions and concerts. Moreover, it was the large old drill hall that was used for these activities. It was very popular amongst the public of Leicester and despite being initially classed as ‘temporary’ the buildings remained and were added to.

By 1960 speed skating races had ceased in the Empress Hall although skating for the general public was still a staple attraction between the months of October and March throughout the winter months. With the loss of speed skating in this facility the Leicester roller skating club folded and its members looked for a new club. Many who lived in Leicester joined the Birmingham club and trained with them at the Embassy rink in Walford Road, Sparkbrook, a suburb of Birmingham. The likes of Lenny Law and Cliff Stafford found themselves traveling regularly up and down the M6 to train with their new club. Then in November 1966 the Embassy too closed its doors for roller skating. It meant that the Birmingham club, along with its Leicester contingent, no longer had an indoor training/racing facility. However, all was not lost.

The Leicester members had the idea that they may be able to secure the old drill hall and exhibition hall for skating if they approached the right people. Permission was granted and on 17th June 1967 Birmingham held their first events at the new venue, the Conrad Davis Challenge Cup and the Birmingham Junior Trophy.

The Birmingham club continued to use the facility for training but it would be another five years before they would hold another race at the venue when they held the Davis Cup, incidentally the last race to be held at the Embassy in 1966. Racing events at Granby Halls were sporadic at that time and once again racing at the venue took a hiatus, but in 1975 it came into its own and was regularly used as a speed skating venue.

In the October of 1974 the Mercia Roller Speed Club was formed. It had previously been named Midland Olympic having its base at the Mecca Olympic rink in Springhill, Birmingham. However, that rink had now closed and the Midland club were looking for a new name and new home. Many of the Leicester contingent had already switched allegiances from Birmingham to Midland Olympic and when a new name was being sought, they requested that it was still synonymous with the term ‘Midland’ as opposed to Birmingham. The name Mercia was chosen as it was a term in old Saxony that reflected the area of the country that incorporated what we now know as the Midlands, which of course Birmingham and Leicester formed part of.

On 9th February 1975 the Mercia club held its first race event at Granby Halls. The venue was then regularly used for both training for the Mercia and Birmingham clubs as well as for race events. In fact, the mass closing of the rinks meant that this was one of the very few indoor facilities open to speed skating and was used by other clubs too, such as Alexandra Palace and Southern, to hold race events. The cost of hiring the hall to put on an event was not insignificant and sometimes clubs would group together to hold a joint race meeting. The National Skating Association also used the venue for some of the British Championship events in 1977.

The hall was still being used as an exhibition hall and a concert venue as well as occasionally housing some animals when the circus was in town. It was not unheard of to enter the hall for a training session or a race meeting and be greeted by the aroma of elephant dung!

On 23rd March 1980 the old drill hall was used for the last time as a race venue as the Granby Halls went through another period of change. There was constant development and redevelopment whilst the Leicester County Council tried to maintain the aging building. The old drill hall was turned into a basketball court with spectator seating and became the home of the Leicester Raiders basketball team.

Speed skating returned, very briefly, in 1996 when on 7th April the very first Indoor British Championships were held in the old drill hall. Although 1988 had seen a specific ‘Indoor Championships’ held in the Empress Hall, the 1996 edition was the first one to receive full Championship medals and was the forerunner of the Indoor Championships we know today. The hall was unrecognisable from the gloomy cobweb ridden hall with metal framed chairs used in the 1970’s. It was now a bright and airy arena fitting for a British Championship event. Unfortunately, it would be the last time the venue would see speed skating on the floor of the grand old building.

In 1998 Leicester City Council deemed it too expensive to maintain the facility and closed the doors of Granby Halls (and the adjacent Empress Hall) for good. Three years later and the entire complex was gone. For a period, there stood a car park but today there stands a modern hotel, part of which supports the Leicester Tigers rugby club and its ground.

The old drill hall at Granby Halls was used by many celebrities and famous people over the years. Political speeches were made by the likes of Winston Churchill, Oswald Mosely and Harold Wilson, whilst big name bands and musicians played here such as The Rolling Stones, The Police, Louis Armstrong and Oasis. The walls were steeped in history, but for those who remember the dust, the white hair from the powder, the old kettles for bend markers, the rickety old balcony, the metal framed chairs, the old phone booths and the large old floor cleaner where mischievous children would blast the horn just before a race was to start, its demise marked the end of another era and consigned all those experiences to ever fading memory banks.