The Palace's Chequered Career
NextBackThe Palace had a chequered career, and changed track several times throughout it's life. When it closed as a cinema, it tried reverting back to putting on live shows, but this was shortlived before it reinvented itself as a roller skating rink. This was a real novelty for us kids. Saturday afternoon we would be there, paying our money for the session and collecting our boots from the kiosk. We had never seen so many boots all neatly stacked on the shelves. The smell from this poky little cavern was pretty overpowering, essence of feet from countless feet that had gone before. On entering the rink there was a seating and 'booting' area which led to the cafe. Here in the cafe you could get a drink and play the latest tune on the Juke Box as you sat on the high chromium bar stools. This was the age of the Expresso Coffee which cost something like one and sixpence – a small fortune in it's day, but a must to impress the opposite sex, especially if accompanied by an Elvis Presley swagger. Many teenagers of the day managed to acquire this phenomena without too much trouble. There were also a few Teddy Boys hanging around then but they were on the way out being surpassed by the slicker, more sartorial dressers of the late fifties.
