As the local population grew, several buildings were opened to provide amusement in Cricklewood.
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| The Cricklewood Dance Hall and Skating Rink, 1920s |
In the 1920s at No. 200 Cricklewood Broadway (over time the numbering changed), there was a dance hall, a roller skating rink, and a cinema all next door to each other. This postcard shows the dance hall and skating rink.
The Palace, or Electric Palace cinema (which was out of view on the right-hand side of the above picture), opened in November 1910 and continued to the early part of WWII. It was built by converting existing shops, and was part of a small chain of 11 London cinemas which was registered as a limited company in January 1909. There were performances of films from 2.00 to 11.00 daily, and the Cricklewood cinema was licensed for 400 seats.
One resident remembers going to the Saturday morning children’s sessions in the 1930s. He saw, ‘Cowboy films, The Three Stooges and cartoons. There was a piano player for the silent movies. It was very small and always full. It cost us four pence.’
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| The Cricklewood Electric Palace (Marianne Colloms) |
The 1910 directory shows that there were two newly opened roller skating rinks on either side of Cricklewood Broadway. On the west side was the ‘Ideal Roller Skating Rink’ near Oaklands Road. This did not last for very long and later became a billiards room. Opposite was ‘The New Skating Rink’ which is the one shown in the first picture.
Surprisingly, both the roller skating rink and the dance hall were opened by a cyclist.
Leon Meredith, champion cyclist
Leon Meredith was one of the most successful British racing cyclists. He was born as Lewis Leonard Meredith in 1882. The family lived at 5 Cardigan Road (now demolished) in Kilburn, and he went to St Augustine’s school in Kilburn. Leon worked for his uncle William Boyer in a building firm, and he cycled everywhere as part of his job. 
On a long bike ride from London to Brighton in 1901 he met members of the Paddington Cycling Club and asked to ride with them, as long as they did not go too fast. In fact he outpaced them and they were so impressed they invited him to join their club.
In 1902 Leon won the national 50-mile cycling race in his first season. He retained the title in 1904 and again in 1907. He showed his versatility by winning championship titles at five miles and 25 miles. On the road he won the 50-mile and 100-mile titles. He had seven world 100kms titles and won an Olympic gold medal in the four-man team pursuit at the 1908 London games. Meredith was the first rider to beat five hours for a 100-mile time trial, finishing in 4h 52m 52s.
A cycling magazine later said: ‘There was something Clark Kent, the children’s comic-book hero, in the make-up of Edwardian cyclist Meredith. Like Clark Kent he presented a mild, shy, bespectacled image off the bike, but once on the bike he became Superman, beating all and sundry in a devastating manner’.
At the time, some races were motor-paced with an adapted motor bike which the cyclist closely followed.
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| Leon Meredith behind Billy Skuse |
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| French postcard of Leon Meredith |
Leon was also a very good roller skater. An existing rink in the Porchester Hall in Bayswater had been renamed The Meredith Skating Rink by September 1906 and was run by his mother.
Then on 14 September 1909 Leon opened the New Cricklewood Roller Skating Rink with his friend Billy Skuse, who acted as his motor bike pacemaker.
Meredith built the Cricklewood Dance Hall next door and it opened on 17 March 1921.
In 1914 Leon married Annie (Cissie) Pinkham, the daughter of Lt-Col. Sir Charles Pinkham OBE, MP for Willesden West. He was a major builder in Willesden, and in 1930 he was the Chairman of the Middlesex County Council.
Leon and Cissie lived at 44 Leith Mansions, Grantully Road which runs alongside Paddington Recreation Ground, the site of many of his cycling achievements. In January 1930 they were on holiday in Davos Switzerland, when he suddenly dropped dead from a heart attack while out on a walk. His ashes were interred in Willesden New Cemetery and wreaths were sent from around Britain and France and Belgium, some in the shape of bicycles.
By coincidence, about a hundred years later another champion cyclist lived in Kilburn; Bradley Wiggins.
Charles Clore, financer
In 1927 Charles Clore and his father, Israel, bought the skating rink, the cinema, and the Cricklewood Dance Hall. Charles, aged 22, stood in the entrance and sold admission tickets to the newly acquired skating ring. This first venture in Cricklewood was a success and laid the foundation for Clore’s subsequent fortune. Clore, who came from a poor East London Jewish family, went on to become a great financier who owned most of the English shoe companies, the jewellers Garrards, Mappin and Webb, and the Selfridges department store.
Dick James, singer and music publisher
The dance hall renamed the Cricklewood Palais, was very successful during the big band era.
Ivy Benson and her All Girls Band played there in December 1946 which was broadcast on the BBC radio. The comedian Terry Thomas had been a professional ballroom dancer at the Cricklewood Palais.
A regular singer at Cricklewood was local boy Dick James (born Leon Vapnick), who later sang with the famous bands of Henry Hall and Geraldo. In the 50s he was the singer of the theme song for the TV programme ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’. In 1961 he formed Dick James Music, a music publishing company and record label.
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| Dick James between George Martin and Brian Epstein |
In 1963 he was contacted by Brian Epstein who was looking for a publisher for the Beatles second record ‘Please Please Me’. In partnership with Philip Jones, Dick set up Northern Songs for the John Lennon and Paul McCartney songs. What started very amiably, went wrong by the end of the 60s when Dick James sold the rights without consulting the Beatles.
He also published the initial music of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
When Dick James died in 1986 he was living at 12 Imperial Court, Prince Albert Road and he left £6,869,792, today worth over £20M.
The Galtymore
In 1952 Kerryman John Byrnes who owned several Irish clubs in London, Coventry and Birmingham, opened the dance hall as the ‘Galtymore’, named after the 3,000 feet high mountain in Tipperary. The ‘Galty’ proved extremely popular with the large Irish community in Kilburn and Cricklewood who had arrived after WWII. The club played Irish Country music every weekend and regularly hosted the top Irish bands.
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| A packed Xmas dance at the Galty |
But as the number of local Irish residents declined so did the Club’s popularity, and it finally closed its doors in June 2008.
Ashtons Night Club
Next to the Galtymore was the larger Ashtons night club. In the mid-1990s a popular line dancing club was held here. Paul Jeffries visited and wrote an article in the Independent in June 1995:
'Every so often at Cricklewood’s Ashton’s nightclub on a Thursday night the music stops and Texas-born dance instructor, Harley Marshall, takes to the stage; the floor is suddenly crammed with people keen to learn how to do the Thunderbolt, the Watermelon Crawl, the Electric Slide, and the Boot Scootin’ Boogie.
Harley calls out the moves as she dances in slow motion and the trainees on the floor attempt to follow suit. Terms like Grapevine, Hook, and Sailor Step can be baffling to first-timers struggling to watch Harley’s perfect stops and co-ordinate their own.
"If you can tell your right from your left and count to eight you can line dance," she explains. Regular country-goers reckon that most people can pick up some of the more simple dances like the Electric Slide in a couple of weeks. Once you’ve got the basics, other dances can be learned in about 10 minutes.
Today, all of the buildings we have discussed in Cricklewood Broadway have been demolished, and the site is awaiting redevelopment.
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