Skipton Auction Mart
Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor
Skipton Auction Mart is truly unique, as performance spaces go. During the week the building is a functioning cattle auction then, on a weekend, a magnificent transformation takes place, turning it into a 300 seater venue. It’s a must play venue for productions touring North Yorkshire. Whether it’s theatre, music or comedy, there’s something for everyone in the Mart’s usual programme.
Some of the theatrical productions that have taken to the stage at the Mart include the Wizard of Oz, La Boheme and Beauty and the Beast. With a mixture of professional and amateur productions, each show leaves an audience feeling uplifted and provides the delicious escapism any good theatre should.
Another audience favourite is the stand-up comedians. Skipton Auction Mart has been a venue where many, now household names, have cut their teeth. Previously the likes of Sarah Millican and Rob Beckett have had audiences in stitches. The Mart is a place to catch emerging talent before they end up on national panel shows.
The unlikely venue also regularly hosts live music. This however, can vary from intricate folk and delicate songwriting to fist pumping rock and roof rattling opera. The acts are a mixture of bands and artists performing original material, more classical ensembles and of course the nostalgia trip we are all guilty of indulging in, tribute acts. The Mart is the only place in North Yorkshire where you’ll find ‘Elvis’ on a stage which, days earlier, would have held cows.
