Temperance Billiard Halls Explained

Temperance Billiard Hall Co. Ltd. was a company founded in 1906 in Pendleton, Lancashire, as part of the wider temperance movement, which built billiard halls in the north of England and London.[1]

Several of the former halls are now Grade II listed buildings, such as the 1910 Temperance Billiard Hall, Fulham, London, now somewhat ironically a pub called The Temperance.

The Temperance Billiard Hall built in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, in 1907, also Grade II listed, is now a J D Wetherspoon pub called the Sedge Lynn.[2]

Their first in-house architect was Norman Evans, who designed a dozen and a half halls from 1906 to 1911, including both of the halls mentioned above.

Thomas Retford Somerford (sometimes noted mistakenly as T. G. Somerford) was their second architect. His 1912-1914 hall at 134-141 King's Road, Chelsea, London is now a Grade II listed building. Somerford's hall at 411-417 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London is also still there, but the frontage has been sub-divided into a number of smaller shop units, and the upper storeys are used as a hotel.[3]

Locations (July 1958)

London

Sussex

Greater Manchester

Liverpool Road

Union Street

Nelson Street

Station Road

Manchester

Cheetham Hill Road

Manchester Road

Hyde Road

Rochdale Road

Moss Lane East

Wilmslow Road

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Temperance Billiard Halls. victorianweb.org. The Victorian Web. 10 February 2014.
  2. Web site: The Sedge Lynn. jdwetherspoon.co.uk. J D Wetherspoon. 10 February 2014.
  3. Web site: The old Temperance Billiard Hall on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. brixtonbuzz.com. 6 September 2013 . Brixton Buzz. 10 February 2014.