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Theatres in Brixton, London

Empress Theatre - Brixton Theatre - Palladium Picture House / The Fridge - Electric Pavilion / Ritzy Cinema

Empress Theatre, Carlton Grove, Brighton Terrace, Brixton
Also known as The Empress Theatre of Varieties / Empress Music Hall / Granada Cinema,

The Empress Theatre opened on Boxing day 1898 with a seating capacity of 1,260. The Theatre had a stage width of 60' and a depth of 40'. The auditorium had an Art Deco refit in 1931 but the coming of Cinema and the demise, across the country, of live theatre in the 50s, hit the Empress in 1957 when it became yet another Granada Cinema.

Left - Programme for the Empress Theatre, Brixton - October 17th 1955.

Right - Programme for the Empress, Brixton - 29th September 1930.

As so often happened with many Theatres throughout the country the building was furthur converted for Bingo use in the late 60s.

The final demise of the building was in 1992 when it was demolished to make way for residential development.

For images of the Theatre in several of its guises see this site...

Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed at the Empress Theatre, Brixton 1900, 1901, 1902

Right - Seating Plan from a Programme for the Empress, Brixton - 29th September 1930.

Alan Chudley writes on the Brixton Empress Theatre and the VTC circuit.

I knew the Brixton Empress in the mid-1940s, Together with the Metropolitan, The Palaces at Chelsea, East Ham and Walthamstow, this was all that remained of the VTC circuit; ( Variety Consolidated Theatres,) the South London Palace being lost during the war years. As I knew the Empress it had been largely rebuilt in 1931 in the sprit of an Art Deco cinema. There were two Large circles but no boxes. Unusually for a Variety Theatre, the Empress had counterweight flying, no doubt due to the fact that the, then, major supplier of such Systems; "Halls" was based in Brixton. Sadly this counterweight flying caused the death of the Stage Manager who was using a counterweight bar to move some radiators under the stage; a stupid operation as the counterweight bar on return to the stage would be out of balance. The bar shot up towards the grid, the stage managers foot was caught in a chain attached thereto, he was taken upwards, hit his head on a gantry crossing the stage and fell over 20 feet to his death.

Left and Right - Variety Programme for the Empress Theatre, Brixton in February 1945 - Courtesy Alan Chudley.

With the coming of commercial television in 1955 VTC was taken over by Granada, who wanted the Chelsea Palace for use as a television Studio. - Alan Chudley.

Brixton Theatre, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton
Also known as The Brixton Theatre and Opera House / Melville Theatre

Above - The Brixton Theatre and Tate Library - From a Postcard sent in 1907

Brixton Theatre was built next door to the Tate Library in Brixton by the renowned Theatre Architect, Frank Matcham in 1896. Opening on the 21st of September that year the Theatre, with a capacity of 1,504, was home to plays, small touring productions, and Christmas Pantomimes. The auditorium was built on three levels, Stalls and Pit, Dress Circle, and Gallery, with several Boxes.

The Theatre was renamed the Melville Theatre in 1940 after Frederick Melville, who ran the Theatre from 1907 to 1934 and 1936 to 1938, but was destroyed shortly afterwards by a high explosive bomb on the 8th of November 1940 and subsequently demolished, but the Tate library next door survives to this day. The Ritzy Cinema, which was also built next door to the Theatre, on the other side, in 1911, has occupied part of the site of the Brixton Theatre since it was enlarged in the 1990s.

If you have any more information or images for this Theatre that you are willing to share please Contact me.

Palladium Picture House, Brixton Hill
Also known as the Palladium Cinema / Regal Cinema / ABC / Ace Cinema / The Fridge

Above - Real Photograph of the Palladium Picture Playhouse, Brixton with its original Baroque Frontage in 1914, just a year after it opened.

The Palladium on Brixton Hill, next door to the Brixton Town Hall, was built by Gilbert Booth and opened as the Palladium Picture Playhouse on the 20th of March 1913 with a capacity of around 1,200 people on two levels, Stalls and Balcony. The Cinema was renamed to the simpler 'Palladium Cinema' in 1929 when ABC bought the building. In 1956 the Cinema was renamed 'The Regal' when the building was reconstructed and sadly this included destroying the original facade in a program of modernisation, (See image below.)

Above - Real Photograph of the ABC Cinema, Brixton, formerly the Palladium Picture House, in the 1970s with a radically modernised Facade. The Cinema is advertising the film 'Dirty Harry.'

The Cinema was renamed 'ABC Brixton' on the 20th of October 1963 and then renamed again in October 1977 when an independent operator took over the building, this time to the 'Ace Cinema.'

Left - Detail from the Real Photograph, shown above, of the Palladium Picture Playhouse, Brixton with its original Baroque Frontage in 1914, just a year after it opened. The Cinema is advertising 'Ceasless Entertainment from 2 to 11pm Daily.

The Ace closed down on the 28th March 1981 and the building was then converted for Music and Concert performances, occasional Film showings, and for a while it was even used as a Roller Disco.

This eventually closed down too and subsequently a fire damaged part of the auditorium. However, the building was repaired and furthur converted, this time into a nightclub called 'The Fridge' which opened on the 8th of June 1985 and still remains as such today, although you would be hard pushed to recognise it as the building it once was.

Above - The Brixton Palladium Picture Palace - From a period Postcard.

If you have any more information or images for this Theatre that you are willing to share please Contact me.

Ritzy Cinema, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton
Formerly The Electric Pavilion

The Ritzy Cinema was built next door to the Brixton Theatre and originally opened as the Electric Pavilion in 1911. It was enlarged in the 1990s and now occupies part of the site of the Brixton Theatre next door. The Ritzy Cinema holds the distinction of being the oldest Cinema in South London which is still in use today.