The Electrical Wizard

The Electrical Wizard is a pub in Morpeth, Northumberland, England, operated by the British pub company J D Wetherspoon plc. It trades under the Wetherspoon brand at 11 New Market, Morpeth, NE61 1PS, and offers the standard Wetherspoon format of all-day food and drink service, real ale, a wide drinks range, Wi-Fi, TV screens and step-free access. Opening hours run from 8:00am until midnight Sunday to Thursday and until 1:00am on Friday and Saturday; children under 18 are admitted only between 8:00am and 9:00pm. Customers can order via the Wetherspoon app, and the pub takes part in the chain's twice-yearly real-ale festivals and seasonal menus such as the Christmas menu and the spritz cocktail range. The pub's name is a piece of local show-business history. The building was the Coliseum cinema, which opened in December 1926 to a design by the architect C Franklin Murphy, and it remained a cinema until 1999. In the early 1930s the Coliseum was associated with the Scots-born entertainer Dr Walford Brodie, billed as 'The Electrical Wizard of the North', who was known for magic acts using electricity, including an electric chair. When Wetherspoon converted the building into a pub, it took its name from that performer, and the pub's interior displays photographs and text about the cinema, Brodie and the Frankenstein films. As a Wetherspoon house, The Electrical Wizard is part of a large, centrally managed pub estate rather than an independent business. J D Wetherspoon plc is a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange, and the pub is one of its many individually named outlets across the United Kingdom. Its identity is therefore both local — a Morpeth landmark in a former cinema building — and corporate, sharing Wetherspoon's pricing, sourcing, responsible-retailing and service standards.

The building that now houses The Electrical Wizard was originally the Coliseum cinema, which opened in December 1926. The architect was C Franklin Murphy, and the word 'Coliseum' remains in capital letters above the front entrance and high up on the side wall. A programme from a charity concert held at the Coliseum on Wednesday, 15 December 1926 survives and is referenced in the pub's own history display. In the early 1930s the Coliseum was closely associated with Dr Walford Brodie, a Scots-born entertainer billed as 'The Electrical Wizard of the North'. Brodie was a smartly dressed former big name in show business, famous for 'shocking' magic tricks using electricity and even an electric chair. The pub's history notes that few acts packed them in like Brodie in that period, and it displays a sketch of him with the electrocution chair as well as a photograph of him in hypnotist mode, 'putting on the fluence'. The display also includes photographs and an illustration relating to Frankenstein, the great electric-shock horror story, including stills of Colin Clive as Dr Frankenstein in the 1931 film and Kenneth Branagh as the obsessed doctor in his 1994 version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The Coliseum continued as a cinema until 1999, when the building ceased to be used as a cinema. It was subsequently converted into a pub by J D Wetherspoon, which named the new outlet The Electrical Wizard after Brodie. The conversion preserved the building's cinema identity in its exterior lettering and in an interior display of photographs and text about the Coliseum, Brodie and the Frankenstein films. As a Wetherspoon pub, The Electrical Wizard is part of a chain whose history began in 1979, when the first Wetherspoon pub opened in Colney Hatch Lane, Muswell Hill, north London, on 9 December, initially trading for a month as Martin's Free House before being renamed Wetherspoons in early 1980. The company's early pubs were all in north London, with its head office above The Dog in Archway. In 1990 Wetherspoon's pubs hosted their first real-ale festival, a four-day event featuring six beers; the festivals later became twice-yearly events in which each pub offers up to 50 beers, 10 of them from overseas. In 1991 the company opened The Tally Ho in North Finchley, London, with a dedicated non-smoking bar upstairs, one of several pioneering initiatives it carried out before the smoking ban of July 2007; that year it also started its CBS scheme for cleanliness, beer and service, and produced the first edition of Wetherspoon News. In 1992 Wetherspoon opened its first two airport pubs at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4 and floated on the Stock Exchange as J D Wetherspoon plc, with shares issued at £1.60. Within that larger estate, The Electrical Wizard operates as a standard Wetherspoon house in Morpeth, offering all-day food and drink, real ale, Wi-Fi, TV screens and step-free access, with opening hours from 8:00am to midnight Sunday to Thursday and to 1:00am on Friday and Saturday. Children under 18 are admitted only between 8:00am and 9:00pm. The pub participates in chain-wide programmes such as the autumn beer festival, which in one edition featured 30 real ales including five from international brewers in China, Denmark, Singapore, Ukraine and the USA over 12 days from Wednesday 7 to Sunday 18 October, and the Christmas menu available from Thursday 12 November until Thursday 31 December, excluding Christmas Day.

• 1999

  The Coliseum ceases to operate as a cinema after more than seventy years.

• 1930

  Dr Walford Brodie, 'The Electrical Wizard of the North', is a major draw at the Coliseum in the early 1930s.

• 1926

  The Coliseum cinema opens in Morpeth in December, designed by architect C Franklin Murphy.

• J D Wetherspoon converts the former cinema into a pub named The Electrical Wizard, preserving the building's cinema lettering and adding a history display.

A value-focused, high-volume community pub within the J D Wetherspoon national chain, trading in a converted historic cinema building in Morpeth town centre.

• Real ale and cask beer

  A rotating range including guest ales and craft cans, with tasting notes published quarterly.

• Autumn beer festival

  A 12-day festival offering 30 real ales, including five from international brewers in China, Denmark, Singapore, Ukraine and the USA.

• Christmas menu

  Festive food available from 12 November to 31 December, excluding Christmas Day.

• Spritz cocktail range

  A choice of nine classic and fruity spritz recipes.

• Hot honey chicken bowl

  A menu item served across Wetherspoon pubs.

1. 1The Electrical Wizard - J D Wetherspoonjdwetherspoon.com
2. 2The Electrical Wizard - J D Wetherspoon (pub history)jdwetherspoon.com
3. 3History - J D Wetherspoonjdwetherspoon.com
4. 4About us - J D Wetherspoonjdwetherspoon.com
5. 5Electrical Wizard - Wikidatawikidata.org