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Theatre Royal, 256 Belsize Road, Kilburn

Also known as The Cinematograph Theatre / The Kilburn Palace

Above - Map showing the position of the Theatre Royal, Kilburn - From an 1897 Programme.

The Theatre Royal, Kilburn was built by Fayer on the site of a former Town Hall, and opened in 1886.

The Theatre was altered in 1895 when much of the building was reconstructed and a fireproof curtain was installed between the stage and auditorium and the Theatre is known to have had a capacity of 514 at this time.

Right - Programme for 'Sir Richard Whittington And His Cat' at the Theatre Royal, Kilburn in 1897. - Click to see the Entire Programme.

In 1909 the Theatre began showing early films and became known as the Cinematograph Theatre for a while, and later as the Kilburn Palace.

If you have any more information, or images, for this Theatre that you are willing to share then please Contact Me Here...

Kilburn Empire, 9-11, The Parade, Kilburn, London

Also known as the New Kilburn Empire / Kilburn Vaudeville Theatre / Essoldo Cinema / Broadway Theatre / Quazar Lazar Game Centre

Above - The Kilburn Empire Theatre - From a Programme for the Kilburn Empire in 1914.

The Kilburn Empire, 9 to 11 the Parade, Kilburn was originally built in 1906 by the architect Mr. Hingston, who also built the Putney Hippodrome. However, there were problems with the licensing of the building and it was not able to be opened to the public so the well known Theatre Architect, W. G. R. Sprague was employed to redesign the Theatre meaning it didn't finally open until 1908.

The Theatre's auditorium was built on three levels, Stalls and Pit, seating 133 and 496, a Circle, seating 454, and the Gallery, seating 546, with a total capacity of 1,913.

Right - Variety Programme for the Kilburn Empire Theatre in July 1920 - Click for details.

Left- The Auditorium of the Kilburn Empire according to a Programme for the Theatre in 1919. However, the same image is used in a programme for the Putney Hippodrome so if you can clear this up please Contact me here...

The stage was fitted with Animal Traps and there were Elephant Pits below the stage for the provision of Variety acts featuring animals. Variety was the main stay of the Theatre, including the showing of films for many years. In 1927 the Theatre began showing films exclusively on Sundays whilst still maintaining Variety during the week.

Above - Peter Williams writes: 'The Floor Staff of the Kilburn Empire taken in September 1939. The person with the hat is probably Johnny Pennifer of Weston Place who was often mentioned in conversation when I used to listen to stories about the Kilburn Empire which sadly I was too young to remember in detail. My father, James Williams, and he both started at the Kilburn Empire on the same day after leaving school together as they were neighbours in the same road, they also left the Kilburn Empire on the same day and went to the Tower Of London and joined up together to serve in the war. This is most probably the reason the pictures were taken. The person on the end in the shirt was the manager "Bill" I believe. He was also a Projectionist. The other people I have no knowledge of. - Picture and information Courtesy Peter Williams whose father worked at the Kilburn Empire from 1931 until he was called up for the war.'

Variety and Sunday films continued until 1949 when the Theatre was sold to Essoldo Cinemas at which point live Theatre ended in the building and it was renamed the Essoldo Cinema. However, the BBC did use the Theatre on Sundays as a studio, and Variety Bandbox was broadcast live from the Theatre for a number of years.

Left - James Williams in September 1939, aged 22, most probably on the leaving day before joining up. Interesting because it was taken on the roof top area of the Kilburn Empire. - Picture and information Courtesy Peter Williams whose father worked at the Kilburn Empire from 1931 until he was called up for the war.

Right - Variety Programme Cover for the Kilburn Empire - Click for details of two Variety Programmes for 1914, and one for Good-By-EE' with Harry Tate at the Theatre in 1917.

In 1970 the Essoldo closed for major alterations to the building, including covering the original Facade in Blue Cladding, hiding the ceilings in the Foyers with suspended modern ceilings, and radically altering the auditorium by extending the circle to the front of the stage to create a new Cinema space above the Stalls with a capacity of 471, and hiding the original Stalls of the Theatre completely.

Right - Programme for 'Where The Rainbow Ends' which was at the Kilburn Empire from the 24th of December 1947 to the 10th January 1948 - Courtesy Peter Williams. - Click to see entire Programme.

Classic Cinemas bought the building in 1972 and ran it until late in 1973 when it was closed again, this time to be converted back into a live Theatre and renamed the Broadway Theatre. Several shows were produced there but it was never very successful and by 1981 the Theatre was again closed down.

Left - James Williams outside the Kilburn Empire. Taken in January 1931 when aged just 14. Proudly wearing The Doorman Uniform which was the first job he had held since leaving School. - Picture and information Courtesy Peter Williams whose father worked at the Kilburn Empire from 1931 until he was called up for the war.

Right - Variety Programme Cover for the Kilburn Empire in 1919 - Click to see details of two Variety shows at the Empire, One with Marie Lloyd, and one with Little Tich.

A short period as a Cinema again was unsuccessful too and the Theatre stayed dark from April 1981 until 1984 when it was put back into use temporarily by a religious organisation.

The final insult to this once beautiful Variety Theatre was when it was taken over and renamed the Quazar Lazar Game Centre, and used as a Paint Balling Gaming Space.

The Theatre was demolished in 1994 and an hotel called the Plaza Hotel was built on the site.

The Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn High Road

The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn High Road opened in 1980 and was a conversion from a former space called Forester's Hall.

The Theatre was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1987, which had begun in a timber yard next door to the building. However, the Theatre was rebuilt and expanded to include new FOH areas in 1989.

In 1998 the Theatre was enhanced again by the building of an adjoining Cinema and in 2007 the complex houses a 230 seat Theatre, a 300 seat Cinema, a Visual Arts Studio called the Paintbox, a small Studio Theatre called the James Baldwin Studio, an Art Gallery, Cafe, and rehearsal rooms.

The Theatre's mission Statement says that they aim: 'To be a successful and accessible theatre, cinema and art gallery providing an artistic programme of the highest quality; as well as supporting socially inclusive educational programmes that attract and reflect the culturally divers local community.'

You may like to visit the Tricycle Theatre's own Website here...

If you have an image of this Theatre that you are willing to share then please Contact Me Here...

Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn High Road, Kilburn

The Gaumont State Cinema on Kilburn High Road was built for the Hyams brothers by George Coles and opened under the ownership of Gaumont Super Cinemas on Monday the 20th of December 1937. Built as a Super Cinema the Theatre had a large and fully equipped stage, workshops, dressing rooms, an orchestra pit with a raising platform for the Wurlitzer Organ, a massive auditorium capable of seating 4,004 people on two levels, and a separate dance hall and restaurant built above the Willesden Lane entrance. The auditorium is now the largest surviving of its kind.

The Theatre was closed down at the start of the war but continued at weekends from 1940, finally reopening properly in 1944.

In the 1960s the rear of the stalls was converted into a ballroom with a false wall and this area was later used for Bingo but the wall was removed in 1980 when the building was listed Grade II. There was also a small cinema converted from the old restaurant space but this closed in 1990 and has been boarded up ever since.

The whole building was used for Bingo from 1980 and still retains it's magnificent auditorium and foyers. The Wurlitzer Organ is still functional although not in its original position.

In 2008 the building is closed having been sold to new owners in 2007, and is therefore no longer used for Bingo. Although the Theatre is readily convertible back to Theatre or Cinema use this seems an unlikely proposition.

There is a great deal of information on the Gaumont State here...

A wonderful image of the auditorium here...

And many images of the building here...

Kilburn - From The Face Of London by Harold P. Clunn 1956

Marylebone and Paddington, are illuminated on the east side, belonging to Marylebone, by tall new electric-light standards, whereas the west side, belonging to Paddington, is now brilliantly illuminated by powerful new gas standards. Doubtless the better plan is to give one municipality, the entire control of those thoroughfares which form the dividing lines, as in the case of Oxford Street, which is entirely under the control of Marylebone although the south side belongs to the City of Westminster. The Regent's Canal, which crosses Edgware Road at the junction with Maida Vale, follows an open course on the west side, and is flanked by Maida Avenue on the south and Blomfield Road on the north. These resemble the canal-lined streets of Bruges or Rotterdam. Several attractive-looking blocks of flats have been erected in Maida Avenue directly overlooking the canal.

To the west of Maida Vale, between Harrow Road and Kilburn Park, is another handsome quarter of Paddington, containing many wide streets and avenues lined with large private houses and blocks of flats. Those between Sutherland Avenue and the Regent's Canal are about sixty years old. Most of the houses here are similar to those of Bayswater and Kensington, but those centred round Sutherland Avenue, Lauderdale Road, and Elgin Avenue are of much more recent construction and consist largely of non-basement houses and blocks of flats. Little more than forty years ago a large part of the ground upon which these newer houses have been built was still open land, although it had long since become surrounded on every side by streets and houses stretching towards Kilburn and Harrow Road. Two fine thoroughfares, Sutherland Avenue and Elgin Avenue connect Maida Vale with Harrow Road, and running diagonally between them is Lauderdale Road, consisting almost entirely of modern four storied blocks of flats faced with red brick. Many blocks of flats have also been erected in Elgin Avenue, but semidetached houses have been mostly built in Ashworth Road and Biddulph Road, connecting Elgin Avenue and Lauderdale Road. At the junction of Clifton Gardens and Warrington Crescent is the handsome Gothic church of St Saviour's, with a square tower.

This pleasant quarter of the town has the advantage of being very accessible from the West End by means of the Bakerloo Tube. This part of London suffered severely from air raids during both World Wars and much damage was done to property, notably in Warrington Crescent, Elgin Avenue and Randolph Avenue, as well as in the vicinity of Abbey Road, St John's Wood, and near Lord's Cricket Ground. To the north of' Elgin Avenue is the Paddington Recreation Ground. It was purchased for £33,000 and is bordered on the south and west sides by four-storied blocks of flats. This is Paddington's only park and is attractively laid out with flower gardens, bowling greens, a race-course, a children's playground and a large refreshment pavilion. In Kilburn Park Road is St Augustine's Church, a handsome Gothic edifice crowned by a tower with a lofty spire. At the corner of Kilburn High Road and Priory Road is the Kilburn Empire, which is now a cinema.

Kilburn, the district to the north of Maida Vale, was once famous for 2 spring of mineral water belonging to a drinking house called Kilbourn Wells. The house, with its adjoining grounds, was situated close to the turnpike gate at the southern end of what is now the very busy shopping thoroughfare of High Road, Kilburn. It stood on the site of a hermitage which was afterwards converted into a nunnery called Kilburn Priory, of which nothing now remains. In the eighteenth century Kilburn Wells, being only two miles distant from Oxford Street or a morning's walk from the centre of London, was a favourite resort of visitors, who came here to drink the waters and to indulge in refreshments, music and dancing. .A printed brochure on the water, described by an eminent physician, was given gratis to people visiting the wells. The Old Bell Tavern, long since rebuilt, marks the site of the original house in Kilburn High Road. The mineral spring stood close to the site now covered by the Kilburn station of British Railways, Midland Region. The turnpike gate at the southern end of the High Road, Kilburn, was abolished in 1868.

Until after 1870 Kilburn was situated on the fringe of the metropolis and consisted principally of one long street forming a part of the main Edgware Road. The whole of the vast territory on the east, extending to Finchley Road and Hampstead, was then open country, and the great urban district of Willesden on the west was non-existent. High Road, Kilburn, is one of the most lively shopping centres of semi-suburban London and together with Shoot-up Hill and Cricklewood Broadway, forms the boundary line between Willesden and Hampstead. It is about three quarters of a mile long and contains many excellent shops, the largest of which is the extensive drapery store on the east side of Messrs B. B. Evans & Company Limited, now owned by Messrs Thomas Wallis, & Company Limited of Oxford Street. Near the junction of Kilburn High Road and Willesden Lane now stands the Gaumont State Cinema, one of the largest in London. It was erected in 1936 and is crowned by a lofty square tower. Higher up is the Kilburn Grange Cinema, at the back of which is a small public park, formerly the private grounds of a mansion called the Grange. This is tastefully laid out with flower gardens, tennis courts, a children's playground and a girls' gymnasium.

A century ago Willesden, then called Wilsdon, was a retired village five miles from Oxford Street, and a favourite walk was then from Kilburn Wells through Willesden Lane, passing by Brondesbury House, the former seat of Lady Salisbury and after of Mr Coutts Trotter. Another very pleasant walk was from the Paddington Canal to Willesden by way of Kensal Green. To-day the borough of Willesden includes Brondesbury, Harlesden, Kensal Rise and part of Cricklewood, and the important railway junction of British Railways, Midland Region.

The population, which in 1891 was 61,255, had increased by 1931 to 184,410, and in 1949 was estimated at 181,320. The Town Hall, in Dyne Road, is a building of red brick with stone dressings but is now considered to be too small for this great new borough.

The Face Of London by Harold P. Clunn 1956