Ron's magnificent discovery of La Boom Boom this week shows us another type of venue where wrestling took place. He found another Cabaret Venue in Birmingham and I can now add the Northern Ireland coast with some proper big 1976 names:
This gets me to thinking in just how many other types of venue Wrestling took place.
Can you add any more to the list below, updated 5th October 2022?
Cabaret Night Clubs eg Bangor, Co. Down.
Football fields eg Hastings Pilot Field
Piers eg Hastings Pier.
Corn Exchanges eg Bedford.
Cinemas eg Granada Tooting.
Circus Tent matches eg Garden Festival in Stoke-on-Trent.
Markets eg Lincoln, Carlisle.
Works Canteens per Ron's thread Pubs including Merry Fiddlers Dagenham and Festival Inn, Trowell.
Ice Rink eg Durham
Working Men's Clubs. George IV seems to be responsible.
Cattle Market eg Norwich.
Public Library, eg Wimbledon.
Swimming Baths eg Saul Street, Preston
Hippodromes eg Great Yarmouth.
Theatres eg White Rock, Hastings
Rotundas, eg Brighton Dome and Royal Albert Hall.
Halls of various types: Aberdeen Music Hall, Brent Town Hall.
Village Hall playing field eg Garstang.
Farmyard at Cockerham 1964
Farmer's field at Out Rawcliffe, Lancs.
British Legion eg Runcorn
Civic Halls eg Ellesmere Port
Circus Ring eg Blackpool Tower.
Coal miners' fair at Settle, Yorks. Vicarage at Stretton-on-Dunsmore
Wrestling/Boxing Stadia eg Wryton and Liverpool Stadiums, St James's Hall Newcastle.
Assembly Rooms eg Garstang, Tunbridge Wells, Tamworth
Mechanics Institute eg Crewe
Department stores including Sainsbury's and Jarrolds.
Parks, such as Roundhay, Leeds.
Slag Heap at Cutacre Clough, Little Hulton, Bolton.
Stately Manor, for Hunt Ball, near Bridlington.
"The Miners Scheme" Coalville in Leicestershire. This may turn out to be a Working Men's Club or a baths.
Hospitals: St. Bart's in Little Britain. Any others?
Stringfellows' Night Club, Cambridge Circus
Town Shows such as Northampton
Public Houses: Lumley Arms, Maltby. Any others?
Breweries in Newcastle and Liverpool.
Mental hospital
Miners Hall Tydesley
Astor strip club Albert Road, Blackpool
British Legion, Windermere Road
Rugby Club at Blaydon
Department store, John Lewis, Liverpool, Christmas party
Holiday at Home events across the country during WW2 including wrestling at Primrose Park in Jarrow.
Schools: St Francis Secondary, M'cr and St Albans Comprehensive.
Curling Pond at The Muir of Ord.
Banking Hall at Portland House in Cardiff
ABOVE UPDATED 14.3.2025
I can't imagine what a banking hall is, Peter, but that's in now if you say so.
Bernard, you are doing my eyes in. I've been up and down the list six times and can't see the duplication: please tell me where it is exactly.
Glad you are all scouring this list to improve it. I suppose we need to deduce something - but what precisely?
Maybe:
wrestling shows were offered at all price ranges.
the appeal of wrestling was so great that there were insufficient mainstream venues and creative thinking was required to extend the range.
promoters tried specialist venues to attract spectators who might otherwise never have chosen to go wrestling: shop workers, miners, hunting folk, etc.
Hi Anglo. If no one else has already mentioned it, You have "Pubs " as a heading twice on your list.
Slam Masters Wrestling use a Banking Hall at Portland House in Cardiff
This very morning a new one. ITV Breakfast shows a story and footage of a lady reverend who has a wrestling ring inside her church: all stained glass and suplexes! She appears to be the ref or emcee.
Quite incredible, in my opinion.
Coincidentally this news item brings in yesterday's discussion about the ethics of the deceit of professional wrestling in a religious context.
United Wrestling promote at a Tap Room in Oxford
re schools item: I promoted the shows at the two schools mentioned where I was a PE teacher and during my time as a wrestler. Good old days. Eddie Rose aka Le Diable Rouge.😊
One to add to markets.
According to Ray Plunkett, Norwich cattle market held shows after they moved from what is now Jarrolds shop in Norwich.
Rugby Club at Blaydon in the1970s, school fetes and community festivals during 1960s, 70s and 80s, during WW2 Holiday at Home events across the country had various entertainment including wrestling at Primrose Park in Jarrow, they almost certainly had other wrestling shows on the Holiday at Home programmes as they ran for a few years.
Sorry I caused confusion with no punctuation strip club was the astor Albert Rd Blackpool ,British legion was Windermere Rd leigh
Outside pubs......been to a couple of events recently held in the pubs outside area.
Also the mention of Drill Halls as a specific venue. Many of those in the old days.
Recently went to an event in a brewery.The Azvex Brewery in Liverpool
Open air at Cawood North Yorkshire, and Knottingley carnival also outdoor, this was always held in July. Knottingley Sports Centre ocassionally held wrestling. Then Pontefract Town Hall was the main venue for wrestling.
Eddie Rose told the story of wrestling in his school hall to raise funds for repairing the school roof.
Some of the recent suggestions had slipped through the net. Please shout if the list is still not up to date as of today.
Town shows......Northampton Show always had wrestling
Wrestling at the Lumley Arms in Maltby (near Rotherham):
Very hard for me to adjudicate, if that is my role. Your contributions are great and we are clearly scraping the barrel now; I don't mean that disparagingly, just that it looks like we have nailed down most UK venues from the Heritage years.
So....
I think that if there was A shopping centre show in this century, it shouldn't really appear on our list.
I agree that the mention of American and Italian venues is interesting, but we really want this list to be limited to places we know or can relate to.
Not for the first time over the decades☺ I cannot understand Mad Mac: are you suggesting Stringfellow's niteclub at Cambridge Circus?
All "my" lists are intended for democratic inclusions, so let me know if I am being unfair.
There was a wrestling show in the Metrocentre shopping centre in Gateshead about 20 years ago, it drew a fair sized crowd
I suppose Stringfellows would fall under “night club”? Myself and Mrs. Mad Mac attended a small show locally a few years ago which was held in a unit of a local shopping mall where the promotion was based!
I know this thread is supposed to be restricted to the UK but during a recent visit to Philadelphia I attended Indy Pro Wrestling Events at two rather unusual venues.
One was at a still active Episcopalian{Church of England}Church. All the seating is cleared and it is used for a variety of popular cultural events using the dual purpose title of Trinity Centre for Urban Life.
The other venue is a Fire House{Station}.The bar attached to the station is also used for a variety of events and is festooned with posters from Opera Philadelphia's visits to Italy including the small community of Pieve near Venice .At this event the wrestlers fought without a ring!