City to make a song and dance over grand old lady by sea
Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom is 90 this week – Alison Campsie looks back at its long history as a favourite entertainment venue
Its opening night was held 90 years ago this week with a masked ball bringing a touch of carnival to Aberdeen as the cream of the city donned disguises from the court of Louis XIV to mark the debut of this sophisticated pleasure palace.
Nine decades later, Aberdeen Beach Ballroom is still dealing with the good times.
Whether it is a strictly ballroom night of sequins and glitter balls, the gentle sway of an afternoon tea dance or even the spins and backdrops of Northern Soul night, the art deco gem continues to inspire romance, memories, and a special place in the heart of the city.
A fountain even once cascaded in the middle of the dancefloor as its resident 12-piece band played. As the ballroom’s reputation grew, bands such as The Beatles, The Who, Small Faces and Pink Floyd signed up for a gig at the venue.
The venue was built as part of Aberdeen’ s Beach Improvement Scheme, which was designed to boost the city as a tourist attraction as well as make this stretch of coastline more attractive to locals. The idea was to help people“ling er” by the water and create a new wholesome way of spending time in Aberdeen.
The Beach Ballroom was part of the vision. It was built at a cost of £50,000 with a design competition giving architects Thomas Robert and Hume of Bathgate the job. Its legendary sprung maple dancefloor ‘floats’ on 1,400 steel springs, making it one of the largest of its kind in Britain.
“You get a really nice movement on the dance floor ,” said ballroom manager John Johnstone. “You are supposed to be able to dance the night away and not get tired. People really do say it is amazing.”
The floor could take 1,000 dancers with a restaurant and tea lounge
seating 350 people at one time. By June 1929, the ballroom was making its mark. The Scots man described it as a “magnificent” new venue decorated with “striking effective - ness and good taste.
“The circular ballroom, with its commodious balcony, brilliant lighting effects and coloured fountain, is an achievement which Aberdeen should be justly proud of. It will undoubtedly make it one of the main holiday magnets of the holiday season in Aberdeen.”
For the city fathers, taking on the management of the Beach Ballroom was a leap in the dark. At first it was impossible to find a tenant, with a unique agreement eventually drawn up with a city caterer to run the venue.
In 1934, the then Town Council decided to bring the arrangement to an end and under take the management themselves. Considerable funds were spent to make the building more attractive with it also necessary to hire “a very good band”.
The venture paid off and the deficits recorded in the early years started to come under control.
Councillor James May said in 1936: “It is a very great attraction to holiday makers. Without it I am sure that the beach would not nearly be so well patronised and that a much smaller number of holidaymakers would come to Aberdeen.”
Sunday concert sat the ballroom won the support of the city’ s chief constable and stopped young people “promenading the principal streets” – a pastime “so often resulted in evil results for young people of both sexes,” according to the Press and Journal.
The British Admiral ty Board commandeered the Beach Ballroom during the Second World War, with servicemen sleeping on beds laid out on the dancefloor. It survived the blitz on Aberdeen, but was ravaged by fire in 1993 before being rebuilt.
Mr John stone said :“It is avery stylish venue and very unique and is one of the iconic buildings of Aberdeen. I always think of it as the ‘People’s Ballroom’ of Aberdeen. It means so much to so many people. A lot of people met their wives and husbands here.
“We get a lot of visitors who emigrated but want to come back to the place where they danced in the 1950s and 60s. After all these years, it still means an awful lot to them.”