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Tottenham Palace Theatre of Varieties, High Road, Tottenham, N17
Canadian Cinema / Mecca Bingo / Jasmine Bingo.

Above - The Tottenham Palace - From a Programme 1912.

Above- The Tottenham Palace in 2007 - Courtesy Jim Gibbons

The Tottenham Palace, designed by Wylson & Long, opened on the 31st of August 1908. The auditorium, decorated in the Grecian style, was built on three levels, Stalls, Circle, and Balcony, with a stated capacity of 3,000, however this capacity is probably unlikely, the present capacity is a more realistic 1,500.

The Tottenham Palace was built as a Music Hall and Variety Theatre but had a very short life. By 1922 it was already showing films and in November 1924 it became a full time cinema called the Canadian Cinema, using the back projection system, with the projection box situated on the former stage of the Theatre. In January of 1926 the name reverted back to the Palace Theatre and a Wurlitzer Organ was installed, only the second in the country.

Right - Variety Programme for the Tottenham Palace in 1912 - Click to see Entire Programme.

The Cinema was closed in June 1968 and the building was converted for Bingo use which ran successfully for many years until it was converted into a church in the late 1990s and called the Palace Cathedral.

Left - Programme for 'Splinters of 1923' at the Tottenham Place Theatre in October 1923. Click to see Entire Programme. Splinters was a drag show which was formed by the forces in the first world war. In fact there was a film (British) made in 1929 which was called "Splinters." Reg Stone, who was an excellent female impersonator, stared in it and was also in the production this programme refers to. Information Courtesy Alan Rebbeck.

Despite all the changes of use and it's short life as a Theatre the Tottenham Palace is still largely intact and readily convertible back to its intended use. The Theatre is Grade II Listed and the Theatres Trust says of the Tottenham Palace: 'Now the only complete example in London of a theatre by the architects who rebuilt the Oxford Music Hall in 1893 (dem), built the Bath Palace of Varieties 1895, reconstructed the Blackpool Winter Gardens auditorium 1897, designed the first Brixton Empress of 1898 (dem) and reconstructed the interior of the London Pavilion 1900 (gutted). One of the few surviving big suburban variety palaces (compare Hackney Empire) and, given a fair wind, a perfectly recoverable theatre.'