INTERVIEW: Meet the man who has restored foyer floor in "remarkable" Morecambe Winter Gardens

Thursday, 14 March 2024 16:37

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Ceramics restoration expert Michael Rieveley has been working at the Morecambe Winter Gardens

A restoration expert who has been working on repairing the historic foyer floor of Morecambe Winter Gardens says the theatre is "remarkable".

Michael Rieveley has worked in buildings all over the country and says the Winter Gardens has some of the finest ceramics work he has ever seen.

Mr Rieveley, of Rieveley Ceramics in North Wales, began work on restoring the mosaic foyer floor - designed in 1897 by the Campbell Tile Company - in October.

The finished results will be unveiled when the theatre reopens to the public on Easter Saturday (March 30).

LISTEN to our interview with Michael Rieveley

"There was a lot of damage and a lot of areas were missing," said Mr Rieveley.

"We tried to replicate as best we could, the original intention. In terms of conservation there is this idea that you should retain some of the historic record, so that's why some areas have been left.

"But once the covers are off, the overall impression is more or less what it would have looked like, when it was originally put down. There's a major improvement."

Here is how the floor looked after Phase 1 of the restoration work was completed in November 2023.

Mr Rieveley and his team have now moved on to other aspects of restoration work inside the glorious old theatre.

"We are now looking at what's on the walls, tiling and fayance work, which is quite remarkable, the quality of it," he said.

"Morecambe Winter Gardens has probably some of the finest work of this type in the country. The detail and complexity of the work is quite remarkable. I would thoroughly recommend coming to look at this wonderful tiling."

Here are before and after images of some of the staircase restoration work inside the Winter Gardens

"This is one of the more remarkable buildings we've worked in, in terms of the sheer quality and grandeur of the ceramics," said Mr Rieveley, who has been specialising in ceramics restoration and conservation for 25 years.

"it is truly amazing stuff, the height of Victorian ceramic work, the skills, the complexity of the designs, the way it's put together, it's quite incredible."

Years of neglect, vandalism and damage meant the foyer floor had to be covered and protected, with fears that it would sustain more damage unless the work was carried out swiftly.

A £45,000 fundraising target was achieved following a campaign through the online platform Spacehive.

Professor Vanessa Toulmin, chair of the Winter Gardens Preservation Trust, said the work was "incredible, looks amazing and will be ready for Easter.

"We will maybe do a preview for everybody who has donated and that's what we're working on at the moment," she said.

Restoration work is ongoing at the Winter Gardens, which closed in 1977 but has been able to reopen part-time in recent years thanks to the efforts of volunteers and the Trust, owners of the building on Marine Road Central.

There are long-term plans for the 128-year-old theatre to fully reopen with capacity of up to 2,800, and further work is scheduled over the coming years.

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