Culture of Plymouth
The city of Plymouth in the United Kingdom is a regional centre for the arts and culture, with many several theatres, cinemas and art galleries. It also a centre for broadcasting, with two television stations based in the city.
Many outdoor events and festivals are held in Plymouth including the British Fireworks Championships and Music of the Night, an outdoor production held every two years in The Royal Citadel[1] involving the 29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, The Royal Artillery Band, the band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines and hundreds of local amateur performers. The Plymouth Morris Men perform throughout the year at many events and venues.
Theatres and cinemas
The largest is the 1982 Theatre Royal which is a major provincial producing theatre and it also incorporates an integral studio theatre, The Drum. The Theatre Royal recently opened its architectural prize-winning Production and Education Centre, known as TR2, on the reclaimed waterfront site at Cattedown.[2].
On the Barbican is the Barbican Theatre[1]. The University has two well-equipped theatres within the new Roland Levinsky Arts Building. Amateur dramatic societies and schools of dance regularly perform at the Athenaeum Theatre, Devonport Playhouse, and the Globe Theatre in the Royal Marine barracks.
The Plymouth Pavilions opened in 1991, and stages regular music concerts from rock and pop to ballet, and other live events.
Plymouth Music Accord[2] is a charity that promotes classical music and consists of many local amateur and professional orchestras and choirs. Peninsula Arts[3] is the public arts interface between the University and local people.
There is a large multiplex cinema at the Barbican Leisure Centre and a three-screen cinema in Derry's Cross.In Looe Street the Plymouth Arts Centre has a two screen cinema specialising in art house and foreign films while the Roland Levinsky arts building at the university has a film centre showing a catholic range of films.
Museums, art galleries and historic buildings
The Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery in Drake Circus, near the shopping mall, has collections of fine and decorative arts, natural history and human history.
The Plymouth Arts Centre [4] is located near the Barbican, and regularly offers visiting displays of work by a wide range of local, British and international artists such as Beryl Cook, Richard Deacon, Andy Goldsworthy and Sir Terry Frost. As well as promoting visual arts, many independent art house and foreign films are shown.
A converted church on North Hill, now the Sherwell Centre and part of the university, hosts regular exhibitions, concerts, recitals, lectures and other public events. There are smaller and privately owned retail galleries on The Barbican.
Also in Plymouth are the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office; Smeaton's Tower; the Elizabethan House and Merchants House in The Barbican. Plymouth is home to the National Marine Aquarium. The Ashkenazi synagogue, in Catherine Street, was built in 1762.
Nightlife
A centre of Plymouth's nightlife for over a century has been the once infamous Union Street. Previously lined with numerous music halls and cinemas, the street is now run down and home to a decreasing number of bars, clubs and casinos. Union Street retains a reputation for unruly drunken behaviour but can still host a lively night out. Although most clubs play commercial dance and R&B, there are some which play other, less popular genres. Other clubs and bars are at the Barbican Leisure Park and on Lockyer Street.There are a number of bars with live music. Mutley Plain has many bars due to the increase of student population in the city.
National fears about public disorder and excessive drinking have locally resulted in the making of many large "dispersal areas" and designated "no drinking areas", giving police the power to disperse groups of two or more and seize and dispose of any alcohol being carried or drunk in public spaces.
Sport
Plymouth Argyle Football Club, [5] play professional football in the English Football League's Championship division. The club is based at the Home Park stadium in Central Park. Plymouth United F.C. was formerly the town's other team.
The Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club [6] play their home games at the Brickfields in the National League Division One. There are also many junior rugby union clubs playing in regional, Devon and Plymouth Combination leagues. Adjacent to the new Brickfields rugby stadium is the Plymouth athletics track. The annual Plymouth half marathon [7] starts and ends on The Hoe.
The Plymouth Rugby League Football Club play in the Rugby League Conference South West Division. Plymouth is also home to two American Football teams, the Plymouth Blitz and the Plymouth Admirals who compete in the British American Football League.
Kularoos Plymouth Raiders play their home games at the Plymouth Pavilions. They are currently one of the best teams in the British Basketball League. Among the several hockey clubs in the city is Plymouth Marjon Hockey Club [8], one of the West of England's clubs in field hockey which is based at The College of St. Mark and St. John, along with an ice hockey team at the Plymouth Pavillions.Other prominent clubs include OPMs[9] and PGSOB. Plymouth and District Netball League [10] is one of the biggest and most competitive in the country with junior and senior sections.Lacrosse is also enjoying a revival particularly among girls.
Bowls is legendarily popular and there are still many public and club greens. Similarly there are many public and private squash courts. Tennis is played in many clubs; there are indoor tennis courts at Derriford and Ivybridge and outdoor public courts spread across the city including at St Budeaux, West Hoe and Plymstock. Plymouth College [11] has several Fives (hand ball) courts. For skateboarders there is an outdoor concrete skate park at Central Park Youth Park [12].
Plymouth Cricket Club [13] has teams at all levels and there are other popular clubs at Plympton and Plymstock.There is a golf club at Staddon Heights [14] overlooking Plymouth Sound and a 9 hole pitch and putt course in Central Park. There is a large commercial driving range near Elburton.
There is major international ocean yacht racing organised from the Royal Western Yacht Club [15] at Queen Anne Battery and a thriving coastal and cross channel passage racing calendar. The long established Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club has its clubhouse perched on the Hoe foreshore and there are several other thriving sailing clubs on the rivers Plym, Tamar and Yealm. Several of these provide members and visitors with weekly 'round the cans' divisional weeknight racing in Plymouth Sound. There are facilities for other watersports including water-skiing, windsurfing and diving and there is a well-used watersports centre at Turnchapel. There are rowing clubs on both rivers and a growing interest in gig racing. In 2006 after three years competitive inshore power boat racing, Plymouth lost the event to the Solent.
Plymouth Leander [16] and Port of Plymouth are successful swimming clubs; there are several indoor and outdoor public pools. There are sea-angling options from boats based on the Barbican and a large number of Plymothians fish from hundreds of spots around the Sound and along the rivers.
The Plymouth Devils speedway team races at St Boniface arena, Marsh Mills. Currently in the Conference League. The first track in Plymouth was located at the greyhound stadium in the Pennycross area and this operated both sides of WWII. The site was redeveloped for a school. The Plymouth-Banjul Challenge is an annual car rally for charity, similar to the more famous Dakar Rally.
There is a small bore rifle shooting range at Plymouth College. Plymouth Judo Club[17] is one of the oldest in the southwest and there several other martial arts clubs in the city. Plymouth Croquet Club is at Hartley and there is another club at Durnford Street.
Also in Plymouth there is the Plymouth Mariners Baseball Club [18] , which has its baseball diamonds and fields situated at Wilson's Field in the grounds of Central Park. There is currently a youth team, as well a developing adult team.
Media
Plymouth is the headquarters and regional television centre of BBC South West, whose studios are located in the Mannamead area north of the city centre but will shortly transfer to purpose built premises on Sutton Harbour. There is a Carlton television studio at Langage although the company will shortly retreat to Bristol. A new Plymouth city digital tv station 'One Plymouth' is planned.
The city's main commercial radio station is Plymouth Gold and its sister station 97 FM Plymouth Sound based together in De La Hay Ave just off Central Park.
The regional stations include BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Cornwall, South Hams Radio and Pirate FM. The BBC provide a specific Plymouth edition of BBC Radio Devon at breakfast time.
The main regional newspaper is the Western Morning News, whose local publishing and print centre at Derriford were designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw. The local city paper, from the same publisher, the right wing Northcliffe Media group, at the same print centre, is the Plymouth 'Herald' (Formerly The Western Evening Herald).There is an unrelated local weekend paper The Western Sunday Independent and several, predominantly advertising, light news sheets spread across the suburbs.
An independent, "alternative" podcast for the city launched in 2006 - Plymcast. It features local musicians and local comedy and entertainment content.
- ^ Royal Navy announcement of Music of the Night 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ TR2 is Britain's "Building of the Year", BBC website. Retrieved 2007-10-13.