“1848- Joseph Hobson opened the Casino next door to the Princess. The Casino became a theatre, called the Royal Alhambra, and later the Royal Amphitheatre.”



Under Amphitheatre, Theatre Royal: “In 1848, William Schuking Thorne opened his New Theatre (Princess theatre) in a small wooden building in King Charles Croft. Joseph Hobson rented the plot of land next to the theatre from Thorne, and built the Leeds Casino and Concert Hall, one of the first music halls in Britain. It cost 2pence to get into the Casino, and the money was returned in light refreshments. During the day Mrs. Hobson made ginger beer and confectionary to sell in the Casino in the evening, where she also managed the bar.



The Casino had a bad name among the middle classes. When the Reverend Stalker and Samuel Barbour visited in 1851 to distribute religious literature, they found the audience 'gazing with zest on scenes, and listening with delight to sounds, which to us, at least, were both humiliating and appalling'. One of the acts at Hobson's Casino in late 1849 featured James Ellis, a gymnast. Later he became manager of the Theatre Royal.



In about 1856 Hobson extended the Casino into Lands Lane and re-named it The Royal Alhambra. A playbill from 1859 gives an example of the kind of entertainment put on there; it features, among other things, 'Mr. Edwin and his performing Dogs'. Hobson wanted to put on plays rather than music hall items, and he obtained a dramatic licence to do this in 1861, when he changed the name of the theatre to the New Amphitheatre. Sometime between 1862 and 1864 the name was changed to the Royal Amphitheatre. [...]



The Royal Amphitheatre was destroyed by fire in 1876, just a year after the old Theatre Royal on Hunslet Lane was burned down. Hobson rebuilt The Amphitheatre, and re-named it the Theatre Royal.”