Kilburn Cinemas, Part 2

The Biograph

The Biograph was part of a chain of nine cinemas run by American-born George Washington Grant. It opened in May 1910 at No.236 Kilburn High Road which was renumbered as today’s No.248 in 1923. This renumbering has confused cinema historians who show photos of today’s number 236 which was Speedy Noodle and is now Duck, Duck, Goose.

Site of Biograph Cinema (Jean Smith, 1979)

The cinema building ran behind the narrow shop front, almost as far back as the Grange Park. The Biograph had a short life and closed in 1917, unable to compete with the much larger Grange cinema which opened nearby. The building became a billiard hall in the mid-1920s, run by W. Jelks, a well-known London maker of billiard tables and balls. Renumbering and separation of the old cinema from its High Road entrance, meant the retail premises on the main road became No.248 and the cinema building behind, No.246a.

Musicians Steve Flood and Stuart Colman opened Master Rock Studios at 246a in January 1986. They wanted the very best equipment and bought a Focusrite Forte recording console, developed in 1988 by Rupert Neve. Aiming to produce a state-of-the-art product regardless of cost, only two units were made before Neve’s company went bankrupt. One was delivered to Master Rock Studios and the other to the Electric Lady Studio in New York. 

Because of the Focusrite Forte, an amazing number of musicians were recorded or had their albums mixed in Kilburn. These included Elton John, Jeff Beck, U2, Eric Clapton, Roxy Music, Simply Red, Suede and many others. Despite the studio being busy, there were financial problems and in 1991 Master Rock Studios was put up for sale. It carried on under new owners, but eventually closed in March 2000. Planning permission was granted in 2014 to redevelop the site and in 2020 The Arbor Collection of flats is being built, overlooking the Grange Park.

Queens Park Electric Theatre, Cinema Royal, The Troc

This independent cinema was opened in 1911 at 102 Salusbury Road, on the corner with Lonsdale Road. The original owner was Lewis Gorer an exhibition organizer who lived in Bayswater. When he went bankrupt in 1913 he was living at 78 Priory Road West Hampstead. It was renamed the Cinema Royal by 1928. By 1933 it was the Troc Cinema which was owned by Benjamin Welansky who lived in Stoke Newington. His twin sons Harry and John who changed their surname to Welan, ran the cinema. The 1936 directory shows The Troc Cinema with F. Mundill as proprietor. In 1938 it had been modernised by Thurston Cinemas Ltd and was opened by Mrs Thurston that August Bank Holiday. The small chain also had cinemas in Norwich, Biggleswade and Harwich. The Troc closed about 1940. 

Site of the Troc today, on the corner with Lonsdale Road

Today the site is occupied by the Salusbury Rooms, next to Salusbury Primary School, offering space to hire for functions and other events. The hall still has a curved ceiling very reminiscent of a small cinema.

Maida Vale Picture Palace

The large house at No.140 Maida Vale was demolished to build The Maida Vale Picture Palace which opened on 27 January 1913. The architect was Edward Stone, who also designed the Grange Cinema, and the London Astoria. With seating for 1,500, this was described as London’s most luxurious picture theatre with its two imposing towers and coppered domes. The foyer had a marbled floor, the walls were panelled with oak and the colour scheme was royal blue and gold. In 1920 the Scala Group took it over at the same time as they acquired the Grange Cinema. The following year it was re-named the Maida Vale Picture House.  

In 1927 a Grand Wurlitzer organ was installed, so powerful that neighbours in Greville Place complained about the noise and tried unsuccessfully to block renewal of the cinema’s license. In 1929 a sound system was installed by the new owners Gaumont-British, and ‘talkies’ were shown for the first time.

The last films were shown in November 1940, and a restaurant opened the following year. In 1949 it became the Carlton Rooms, a social club and entertainment venue featuring dance bands such as Victor Sylvester. When the Mecca Social Club opened in 1961 it was reported to be the first commercial bingo hall in the country, and this continued until 1996. The exterior of the Grade II listed building is remarkably well preserved. Today, it is the Islamic Centre of England which opened in 1998.

Grange Cinema

Sir Oswald Stoll, who owned the well-known London Coliseum in St Martin’s Lane, wanted to build a Kilburn Coliseum theatre on the site of the Grange, a large mansion facing the High Road. The LCC had purchased the land attached to the house for a park, and Stoll got permission to build on the corner of Messina Avenue. The site was used for a short length of road, a few shops and the impressively domed Grange Cinema, No.234 which is Grade II listed. This opened in 1914 with seating for 2,028, the march of modern technology having overtaken Stoll’s earlier plans for a music hall. In February 1929 it was taken over by Gaumont-British.

The Grange Cinema, in the 1930s

After further changes in ownership, the cinema finally closed on 14 June 1975 and became the Kilburn National Club which ran from 15 Dec 1976 until 1999. Many famous bands played here including Morrissey and The Smiths, Simply Red, The Machine with David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, the Manic Street Preachers and Suede. In his film about the Beatles called Backbeat (1994), director Ian Softly used the National to portray the Star Club in Hamburg. The Victory Christian Centre, an evangelical group, moved into the building in July 2001 and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God took over in 2003.

Essoldo, Classic and Broadway Cinema, previously the Kilburn Empire Music Hall

The Kilburn Empire opened as a music hall in 1906. Although films were shown from the outset, in the 1920s live acts still took precedence, with films only run on Sundays. 

Kilburn Empire

The great American jazz pianist Fats Waller performed here in 1938 and a young double act called Morecombe and Wise appeared in 1949. That year it was renamed The Essoldo after building work to convert it to a modern cinema. 

The Essolo showing Shane in 1953

The stage was used on Sunday to broadcast the popular live BBC radio show, Variety Bandbox. Renovated in 1970, the Edwardian facade was covered with an ugly metal cladding and substantial changes were made to the auditorium so that no trace of the original fittings was visible. In 1972 it became a Classic Cinema, part of the chain, but it closed a year later.

It reopened as The Broadway Theatre in 1974, offering cinema and live shows once again. 

 

The Broadway with the metal cladding in the 1970s

Larry Parnes took over the management as part of his chain of theatres and refurbished it in 1976. The venue later reverted to films, and finally closed its doors in 1981. It lay derelict until 1984 when a religious group took over for a while. The final use was by Quazar Lazar as a paintball game centre. It was demolished in 1994 and the site incorporated into the Regents Plaza Hotel, which opened in 1996. This is currently the London Marriott Hotel Maida Vale.

Envoy and Classic Cinema

The Envoy at No.405 Kilburn High Road was completed in late April 1938. Designed by F. E. Bromige, it was built in the Art Deco style as a small news and cartoon cinema with only 338 seats. In July 1955 it became part of the Classic chain and closed in April 1984. 

The Classic in 1984

It was demolished and replaced by Malcolm House, with shops at street level and accommodation above. It is now a Tesco Express.

Gaumont State

The Gaumont State Kilburn is a local landmark with its 120-feet high tower, reminiscent of the Empire State building.

The three Hyams brothers, Phil, Sid and Mick, were heavily involved in setting up the State. Sons of a Russian immigrant baker, in 1919 they started a small cinema chain. In 1927 they converted a vast tramshed into their first super cinema, the 2,700 seat Broadway in Stratford, East London. It was designed by the highly talented architect George Coles who worked on all the Hyams cinemas. 

Phil and Sid Hyams with George Coles

In 1928 they sold their chain to Gaumont-British but set up another chain with Major Gale called H&G (Hyams and Gale) Cinemas and continued to build super cinemas such as the Trocadero in Elephant and Castle. ‘Mr Phil’, ‘Mr Sid’ and ‘Mr Mick’ (as the Hyams were known) were unusually generous employers and at the end of a good week, staff would often find a bonus in their pay-packets. In 1935 the Hyams brothers and Major Gale joined with Gaumont-British to form Gaumont Super Cinemas and they were instrumental in building the Kilburn State.

Another important family involved in cinema were Isidore Ostrer (1889 – 1975) and his brothers Mark (1892 – 1958) and Maurice (1896 – 1975). There were stockbrokers and bankers who lived at 18 Compayne Gardens West Hampstead in 1920. Two years later they became involved with the Gaumont Company and bought out the original French owners to form Gaumont-British in 1927, with Isidore Ostrer becoming chairman in 1929. They created a circuit of about 350 cinemas and expanded into production by rebuilding the old Gaumont studio to form Lime Grove studios in Shepherd’s Bush, where the Gainsborough Films of the 1940s were produced by Michael Balcon. In 1941 Gaumont-British was sold to J. Arthur Rank for £13M. At one point, G-B controlled four of the cinemas in Kilburn; The Grange, the Gaumont State, Maida Vale Picture Palace and the Kilburn Picture Palace in Belsize Road.

Victor Kempner was an estate agent who specialised in shop and cinema development. He was born at 47 Dyne Road in Kilburn. He said that in September 1933 he thought Kilburn needed a large cinema and he approached the Gaumont Super Cinemas company. They agreed, and asked Kempner to find the large amount of space needed. The Palmerston Works, the site of John Allen and Son builders, together with three premises on the High Road and another three in Willesden Lane, were acquired after two years of negotiation.

The plans were given final approval in May 1936, and building involving about 1,000 workers began on the huge project in July 1936 and was completed on 17 December 1937. The cinema was opened at Nos.195-199 Kilburn High Road on 20 December 1937 at a cost of £320,000 (worth about £19M today). Designed by George Coles, and with 4,004 seats it was the largest cinema of its time in Europe.  

The opulent decorations included black marble pillars, pink mirrors, and candelabra, (replicas of one in Buckingham Palace). There was a very large stage and a magnificent Wurlitzer organ which rises from a pit and still survives today. A special broadcasting room in the tower allowed Van Dam and his State Orchestra to be heard regularly on the radio and it became Queen Mary’s favourite cinema.

 

The State 1950

The opening programme featured major stars of the day: Gracie Fields, George Formby, Henry Hall and Larry Adler. Because of its large capacity, it was used for many concerts over time. These include, Django Rheinhart, the great gypsy jazz guitarist, with violinist Stéphane Grappelli and the Hot Club of Paris played there in 1938. Frank Sinatra appeared in June 1953. On his tour of England Buddy Holly and the Crickets performed to a sell-out audience in March 1958, a year later he died in a plane crash. Jerry Lee Lewis, having recently married his young cousin, was booed off-stage in May 1958, and abandoned his UK tour. The Beatles played there twice on 9 April 1963 and 23 Oct 1964. The Rolling Stones did a show on 19 November 1963. The Who were filmed here in December 1977.

The State stopped operating as a cinema completely in 1990 and was only used for bingo.

In 2007 it was bought by the Ruach City Church who own it today.

For more information see our previous blog story:

http://kilburnwesthampstead.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-kilburn-state-cinema.html

See also Anna Bowman’s film about the State:

https://vimeo.com/66572900

Tricycle and Kiln

The Tricycle, renamed The Kiln Theatre and Cinema in April 2018, occupies the site of Foresters’ Hall at 269 Kilburn High Road. The main entrance for the cinema is in Buckley Road.

In 1845 the Abbey Foresters branch of the Ancient Order of Foresters was established in London. They took the name because one of the founders, Mr J. Freeman, was the proprietor of the Abbey Tavern in St John’s Wood and the group continued to meet there for the next 37 years. As a benevolent society they helped members with sickness payments and house mortgages. In 1924 the group purchased Stanmore Cottage in Kilburn High Road as a new headquarters. But funds were short, and the new Foresters building did not open until 1928. 

Oswald Mosley’s fascist ‘Blackshirts’ who held regular meetings on the Kilburn High Road in the 1930s outside the Rifle Volunteer pub also hired the Foresters Hall. William Joyce, later known as Lord Haw-Haw when he broadcast from Germany during the War, addressed a meeting there in 1935. About 1979 the Foresters sold the Hall but kept a small office on the High Road.

The Tricycle theatre, designed by Tim Foster opened in 1980, to provide a permanent home for the Wakefield Tricycle Touring Theatre Company. Seven years later the building was gutted by fire and then re-built. It has been very successful, and several productions have transferred to the West End. One of the best known was the Colour of Justice (1999), based on the Stephen Lawrence trial. It was directed by Nicholas Kent who became Artistic Director at the theatre in 1984.

The Tricycle cinema

The 300-seat Tricycle Cinema designed by Foster Wilson Architects, was opened on 12 November 1998 by West Hampstead resident Emma Thompson. She had raised funds from fellow actors including Tom Hanks, Barbara Streisand, Mel Gibson and Dustin Hoffman. The theatre and cinema reopened in September 2018 after a two-year £7M major renovation, and despite considerable opposition, it has been renamed The Kiln. Currently it is the only cinema in Kilburn.

We would like to thank Cliff Wadsworth and Adrian Hindle-Briscall for their help.