The Empress Ballroom is an entertainment venue in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It is located within the Winter Gardens, a large entertainment complex in the town centre.

Venue: Empress Ballroom
Town: Blackpool, GB
Capacity: 3,000

The Empress Ballroom is an entertainment venue in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. It is located within the Winter Gardens, a large entertainment complex in the town centre. As part of the Winter Gardens, the ballroom is a Grade II* Listed Building. It is operated by Crown Leisure Ltd, on behalf of Blackpool Council, who purchased the property from Leisure Parcs Ltd as part of a £40 million deal in 2010. It hosts a variety of events including conferences, concerts, dance and darts competitions as well as trade fairs, and for the first time (in August 2018) the British Beard & Moustache Championships. It has hosted the main annual conferences for all three major British political parties: the Conservative Party Conference, Labour Party Conference and the twice-annual Liberal Democrat Conference, as well as those of a number of trade unions. The venue was built in 1896. It was designed by Manghall and Littlewood of Manchester, and decorated by J.M.Boekbinder. At 110 by 189 ft (34 by 58 m) with 20,790 sq ft (1,931 m2) of floor space, the ballroom was one of the largest in the world. It has a barrel-vaulted ceiling, decoratively treated as a square-coffered vault with relief patterned panels, with twelve glass chandeliers. The ballroom has a decorated balcony on three sides, It was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1918 for military use during World War I to assemble gas envelopes for the R.33 airship, before being handed back a year later. The floor was replaced in late 1934 with 10,000 pieces of oak, mahogany, walnut and greenwood, laid over 1,320 four-inch springs. It is one of the few remaining sprung dancefloors in Britain. A new stage was also built, with space for a lift provided for the Wurlitzer organ console. The Wurlitzer organ that was installed in the Empress Ballroom in the winter of 1934/35 was originally from the Tower Ballroom. Its specification was enlarged to match the specification of the new organ at the Tower Ballroom. The console was placed on a li