NOOKS and CORNERS
SOUTHEND’s magnificent fairground Kursaal building is now in a state so dilapidated, the local council believes it may be able to demonstrate that its property developer owners have breached conditions of their lease.
The council owns the freehold of the iconic 1890s building, the only surviving structure of a vast amusement park built during Southend’s holidaying heyday. Named after the fashionable grand entertainment halls of German spa towns, the Kursaal has hosted everything from banquets to circuses to motorbike wallof-death stunt shows.
It hosted entertainment right up until the 1980s, with live music in its ballroom. In recent decades, parts of it have been used for commercial business, such as fast food and a casino. Currently just one corner is occupied, by a Tesco Express. The rest has long been boarded up and empty.