Every Picturehouse Tells a Story

The seven cinemas of Forest Gate

Cinema was very much a novelty in the early years of the twentieth century, when the silent movies held sway, and over the years there have been seven functioning cinemas in Forest Gate, with upto 7,000 seats, at any one time. 

The seven cinemas had, confusingly, 18 separate names between them over the sixty odd years during which some or all of them operated in what is now E7.

All are now sadly gone, and only the most recent of the Forest Gate seven still stands in a recognisable form - having been through a considerable change of use since the lights were dimmed for the final time in 1975.

In what follows, we present a brief survey and are very much indebted to Bob Grimwood's 1995 book Cinema in Essex and the superb website www.cinematreasures.org for our information. If you can add more - particularly old photos, and offer memories, we'd love to hear from you, via the comments box, below.

Bijou Theatre This was one of Forest Gate's oldest, but shortest lived. It opened prior to 1908 and was owned by Gale's Bioscope Theatres. It was compulsorily closed by the council in 1909, and apparently never re-opened. The Co-op on Woodgrange Road now occupies the site from which it briefly screened.


Co-op, Woodgrange Road, - site of Bijou Theatre

Forest Gate Cinema, also known as The Forest Lane and The Splendid. Like the Bijou, it was close to the railway station. It was opened in 1912 and seated 570 patrons. It was owned by AE Neary and J Lewin. It had been renamed The Forest Lane Cinema by 1922 and after a brief closure for modernisation, in 1932 reopened as The Splendid Cinema. It closed for the last time in 1939/40 and was later demolished. Its site is now occupied by Forest Gate Community School.


Forest Gate Community School, 
site of former Forest Gate Cinema

Forest Gate Public Hall, also known as The Grand Theatre, The People's Picture Palace, The Public Hall, The Grand Cinema and The King's Cinema This was opened as the Forest Gate Public Hall, on Woodgrange Road on 1 November 1902, set back from the road, with its own wide entrance road. It had seating for 1,000 in the stalls and balcony and also had its own stage and ballroom. By 1907 it had become The Grand Theatre and in March 1908, after redecoration, it re-opened as The People's Picture Palace. 


Forest Gate Public Hall, Grand Theatre, People's Picture Palace, Grand Cinema, 
King's Cinema, Woodgrange Road

The venue hosted variety shows as well as cinema and by 1910 it was once again known as The Public Hall, still showing films, with its own orchestra pit. It closed early in 1932 and reopened later in the year as The Grand Cinema. By 1932 it was controlled by London and Provincial Cinemas, but closed in December 1932 until January 1935. 

It was again closed, from October 1935 until January 1937, when it re-opened as the King's, but it closed for good - as a cinema- around the outbreak of war. Over the years the building was used as a roller skating rink, a clothing factory and The Upper Cut club and finally an electrical store, until 2000. It was demolished in 2005, to provide a ventilation shaft for the cross channel rail link, on its way to central London.

Site of old Grand Cinema etc, 
Woodgrange Road, today

The Imperial Playhouse, also known as The Regal and The Rio. This was opened at 55 Woodgrange Road (now the site of the Durning Hall charity shop) by Woodgrange Estates, at the rear of existing shops, with one of them now acting as its entrance hall, in 1910. It was owned by London and Provincial Cinemas by 1922 and was closed for alterations in 1932. 


55 Woodgrange Road, 
site of Imperial Cinema

It reopened as the 600 seater Regal cinema in 1935. It closed in March 1938 and reopened as the Rio later that year, under new management. It closed as a cinema in 1944.

Kings Hall (not to be confused with the King's!) This had a short life, opening in 1910 on the former site of the Forest Gate British School. It closed within four years, around the outbreak of World War 1. The much altered site now houses Angel's restaurant, at the junction of Woodgrange Road and Forest Lane.


79 Woodgrange Road, site of King's Hall Cinema

Odeon This, last surviving local cinema building, was opened in 1937 with a seating capacity of 1,806 - complete with stage facilities and two dressing rooms. It opened on 1 March that year with a showing of Max Miller's Educated Evans. It was hit by enemy bombing in April 1941, when the almost adjacent Queen's was destroyed (see below), but it reopened later, in August that year. It passed to the Rank Organisation in 1948 and remained structurally unaltered until its closure, as a cinema, in November 1975 - with its final show Sean Connery's The Wind and the Lion.


Odeon Cinema, Romford Road - in better shape and days

It was converted into a bingo hall. After this failed it became semi derelict until the stalls areas were refurbished and a false ceiling erected and it reopened as a snooker club. The building retained its Odeon sign, probably because it was too costly and difficult to remove, until it closed for snooker in 1994. 

The building has subsequently been converted into an Islamic centre, whose new owners sanctioned the crude hacking off and vandalism of the art deco relief panels and figures of Pan on the exterior. The Odeon name has also been removed. Since 2001 it has become the Minhaj-Ul-Quran Mosque and Adara Minhaj-Ul-Quran Muslim Cultural Centre. With its dirty, scruffy, defiled exterior it is now, like many of the shops opposite it on Romford Road, a significant eyesore within the district.

Former Odeon Cinema, now 
Minhaj-Ul-Quran mosque, Romford Road

Queen's Cinema also known as New Queen's and ABC Queen's This opened in June 1913 and was originally owned by Forest Gate Estates. It had seating for 1,750, stage facilities, three dressing rooms and its own generators. By 1926 it had come under the control of Suburban Super Cinemas and in 1928 closed briefly for a major refit, during which time its seating capacity had been increased to 2,000. A Christie organ was installed and it reopened in September 1928 as the New Queens. 


Queen's Cinema, Romford Road, pre 1928

The following year it was acquired by Associated British Cinemas and was subsequently renamed the ABC Queen's. It was completely destroyed by a parachute mine on 21 April 1941 and has subsequently been redeveloped as a block of flats/shops between the former Odeon Cinema and Barclays' Bank on Romford Road.

Queen's Cinema, Romford Road, 1930's

Site of old Queen's Cinema, Romford Road, today

Post Script

In November 2014 we added the following posts script to this blog:

A Cinema Miscellany no 24 (2003) by Brian Hornsey has provided valuable additional local material about a few of the local cinemas covered in our history of them in our Every Picturehouse tells a story feature, of July 2013.

We thank him for his painstaking research.

The Imperial Palace (also known as the Regal and Rio) was for a while, around the outbreak of World War 1 known as the Forest Gate Electrical Theatre ( shortened to The Electric).

The Forest Gate Public Hall etc. In its early days had 1,000 seats, but following refurbishment around the outbreak of World War 1 they were reduced to 750 - suggesting that the earlier seating was on benches, replaced by single seats after the refit. Prices for show around the start of World war were from 5d to 1/3d (depending on sitting within the cinema).

The Queen's. Millionaire A E Abrahams had had such success with his Manor Park Coronation Cinema (built, nor surprisingly in 1902) that he built this - a sister cinema to it, near his Forest Gate home. Following its 1928 refit it became one of the first cinemas in the area to show talkies (introduced that year) and full length feature films.

Queen's Cinema

Poor reproduction of photograph
of interior of Queen's Cinema

Another poor reproduction photo
of Queen's Cinema exterior

The Odeon. It was opened on 1 March 1937 with Thank Evans, when prices ranged from 6d to 1/-, with continuous showings from 12.30pm, daily. After the emergence of Odeon the two main cinemas in Forest Gate were it and the Queen's - operated by two of the country's major cinema chains. 

From this time, these two cinemas tended to show the major recent releases and the other local cinemas were left showing re-runs and 'B' movie feature films.

World War 11 and local cinemas. 

All places of entertainment - in Forest Gate, and nationwide - were closed on 3 September and all but essential staff were laid off (without compensation). When it became clear that the threatened invasion was not about to happen, cinemas reopened gradually, after about two weeks. 

There were four local cinemas operating by October 1939: The Odeon (1,800 seats), The Queen's (1,700 seats), The King's (600 seats) and the Splendid (550 seats). The Kings closed first, in 1940 (the circumstances are not clear). The Splendid, dropped its curtain for the final time, around then. The Queen's was badly bombed on 21 April 1941, and its near neighbour the Odeon less severely hit. The Odeon was repaired, but the Queen's was now gone for good.

So, by the end of the war the Odeon was the sole surviving local cinema, brining to an end a frantic half century of openings, closures, name changes and mergers locally. The Odeon was fully restored and operating at its peak level by 1950. It was fitted with a Cinemascope screen in 1954.

Original article, with these notes and photos added as a post script, can be accessed here.

Godwin School ( boys ) log 2 - Godwin and Forest Gate pre WW1 (1900 - 1914)

This is the second of a series of posts based on the school log of Godwin School, from 1883 - 1984, providing a fascinating, worms' eye view of the development of the local area.

Godwin school in 1973

See here for details of the first post and a background to this series of articles.

This article, in particular, highlights:

• Great successes achieved by the school in both Music (nationally and internationally) and football (London, and Essex-wide);

• how Godwin pupils and Forest Gate people, more generally, responded to national and international events;

• significant achievements made by some former Godwin pupils;

• continued praise for the school and its record, by HMIs.

2 Mar 1900 The school was closed today, to celebrate the relief of Ladysmith (ed: significant development in the Boer War).

Contemporary painting of the Relief of Ladysmith

26 Mar 1900 The school choir competed at the Stratford Musical Festival this evening. The choir was successful in gaining 1st prize.

16 May 1900 The attendance was greatly suffered today in consequence of a Patriotic Procession taking place in Forest Gate.(ed: This procession was to whip up jingoistic fervour for the Boer War. The Stratford Express covered it at length, the extract below was published in advance of the procession, forewarning its readers of it.  The extract below mentions that the procession was to go through the streets of Forest Gate on the evening of the publication and Stratford the following evening. It would feature 157 cars - some displaying arms, other tableau with such names as "Home at Mafeking", "Britannia and South Africa", "Men in khaki " and "Camp Life". Three days afterwards  the paper devoted two thirds of a broadsheet page to coverage of the procession.  This is worthy of an article in its own right, and we will return to it in a later article). 

Stratford Express
16 May 1900

21 May 1900 The school was closed today, to celebrate the Relief of Mafeking. (ed: significant development in the Boer War).

1 Feb 1901 In accordance with Board instructions, the master gave a lesson to each section today on the life of the late Queen Victoria. School closed this afternoon, by order of the Board, in consequence of the funeral.

1 Oct 1901 18 years today, this school begun in a temporary building.

5 Jun 1902 The Board has given a holiday to celebrate the peace between this country and the Transvaal. (ed: end of the Boer War).

31 Oct 1902 The master left at 2.30 to attend the stone laying of school for defective children at Grange Road. (ed: now Grange Road Special school, opened for "disabled children" as a project by the Canning Town Women's Settlement).

27 Nov 1902 School closed at noon, by order of the Board, on account of the Shakespearean Bazaar at the Town hall Stratford, in aid of the West Ham hospital.

8 Feb 1905 HMI report This school is well organised and under very good influence. The teaching is careful and thorough, producing much accurate and intelligent work.

24 Feb 1905 Boys cautioned re getting on or near the tram cars.

27 Feb 1905 The boys were very jubilant today. The school football team won their match against Eltringham Street, the champions of South London in the Dewar Shield competition on Saturday. (ed: This was the London Schools championship shield, for football. It is still competed for today, as a trophy for year 10 pupils).

15 May 1905 The district football shield returned to this school today, for last season's success. This is the 7th time out of 9 that Godwin Road has had the honour of holding this shield.

23 Nov 1905 School closed this afternoon by order of the Education Committee in honour of the Duchess of Connaught's (ed: daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria)visit to the borough to open the American Bazaar, under the patronage and active support of the Duchess of Marlborough, for the Extension scheme for the West Ham hospital. (ed: this Bazaar took place in the pre-NHS era, and was a fund raiser for the local hospital - as were held in many places in the country - at a time when most working people effectively relied on charity for their health care.  The event was significant enough to not only result in local schools being closed, but in attracting two thirds of a broadsheet page coverage in the Stratford Express - the headline of which is shown below).

Stratford Express 25 November 1905

12 Feb 1906 Mr Walker, art connoisseur and dealer of Newquay, Cornwall called and informed the master that Frank Watson, an old Godwin boy had just left him to take up a scholar's life at the Donald Fraser Institute, Glasgow for 4 years. Mr Walker showed some of Watson's pictures and says in his opinion that he would make his mark in the art world.

26 Mar 1906 This has been a Red Letter Day ... in the elementary school choir competition at Stratford Music Festival ... 7 schools entered ... and our boys gained first prize ... the test piece was 'Shout! Throw your banner out!" and the choir's own selection "Sleep sweet birdie".

25 Mar 1907 On Saturday our boys gained the distinction of winning the championship for London in the football field. Our team beat Page Green 3 - 0, and so became the holders of the Dewar Shield for the year.

22 Mar 1909 It was painful to hear that Ambrose Rotiusno, Standard 7 was found hanging in a cupboard in his mother's room, yesterday about 2 o'clock (ed: newspaper article calls him Robinson - see below. The jury's verdict was that he met his death by "hanging while swinging about". They did not think he committed suicide).

Stratford Express 24 March 1909

29 Mar 1909 The master, with Mr Rawlings and some of the boys in his class, attended the funeral of Ambrose Rotiuso on Saturday afternoon.

23 Dec 1909 Mr Barker, one of our former pupil teachers came to see us this morning. He has just succeeded in obtaining his BSc degree at London. He was with us from Sep 1899.

15 Apr 1910 The boys were allowed an extra quarter hour's recreation this morning, to celebrate the completion of the 25th year of the opening of the school.

21 Apr 1910 School began work at 1.45 and was dismissed at 3.55. This was to enable the boys to go to Ilford to play the semi-final in the Cook Cup competition.  All staff and about 200 boys went. The school team won the match against Central Park school 3 - 0 (ed: the competition was instituted by the county Football Association, in memory of its late secretary, Robert Cook. It was open to all elementary schools in Essex. It is still competed for, under the aegis of Essex FA, for under 15s).

2 May 1910 The boys played the final of the Cook Cup competition. They met Albert Road school, Romford, at the Boleyn Castle grounds. Our boys won the match 10 - 1 and so became holders of the cup.

9 May 1910 The atmosphere at the school today has been somewhat disturbed. This is not to be wondered at, seeing that His Majesty King Edward V11 passed away just before midnight on Friday.

14 Oct 1910 The attendance this week has not been good. The Jewish holidays affected it.

21 Dec 1910 The secretary of Robert Cook Cup arrived, having made arrangements for the cup to be presented to the school. The ceremony took place this afternoon.

21 Jun 1911 School closed for the Coronation holiday, resuming on June 29.

29 Jun 1911 School reassembled this morning. The Coronation celebration was held yesterday. The boys went to the Electric Theatre ( ed: see photo. This was located near where the Co-op is today, on Woodgrange Road.  It was later known as the Imperial and also The Royal.  See here for details of the cinemas). in the morning, played games on the Flats in the afternoon and returned to school for refreshments. A very enjoyable day was spent.

Outside of Electric theatre

... and inside

7 Dec 1911 It was with satisfaction that one records that Mr Higginson, a former pupil, and Mr Bundell have each obtained the BSc degree at London University.

25 Mar 1912 The choir was successful in gaining the Challenge Shield on Friday, with 77 marks out of 80 and a certificate for singing, with 37 marks out of 40.

2 May 1912 The football team played South Church school at Southend yesterday in the Cook Cup final and won the match 4 - 1, and thus became holders for the year.

6 May 1912 The boys of the choir going to Paris attended today at the Town Hall for a lesson in French from 1pm to 2.15pm, and then returned to school (ed: An extract from Fifty Years a borough:  1886 - 1963 - the Story of West Ham wrote of "Mr Harry Earle and the splendid choir he trained at St Matthew's church, Stratford. Many of his old Godwin Road boys too, remembered with advantage the great days when (he) trained them to compete at the International Competition  held at Paris: how he found the money, took them there, and, on their return as victors they stood at the fountain at Forest Gate station and sang prize songs to a great crowd of friends and admirers. One of the songs was composed by a West Ham musician.").

Slightly grainy photo from Stratford Express
 of 150 West Ham children (including 50
 from Godwin school) on the steps of Vincennes
 Town Hall, during their visit to Paris

Stratford Express coverage of the French trip

3 Jun 1912 The choir was very successful at the Paris music festival, gaining 1st prize in the choral competition and in the singing at sight contest.  All the boys returned on Wednesday last, safe and sound, after a very enjoyable, but strenuous experience. (ed: this is quite an extraordinary story, which the Stratford Express, not surprisingly, covered in considerable detail. Part of that detail is a diary kept by the school of its time on the trip.  Although quite lengthy, this is worth an article on its own, and will feature in a future blog).

17 Jul 1912 The prizes won by the choir in Paris were publicly presented this evening by Baron de Forest MP for North West Ham (ed: see here for more details of the MP).

Stratford Express 20 July 1912

Maurice, Baron de Forest, the local
MP presented  prizes won in Paris
, to boys in the  choir, following
 their successes

26 Sep 1912 The school choir has been asked to sing at a Garden party given in West Ham Park in connection with the Municipal Tramways Conference. Mr Earle and the master are accompanying them to the park.

30 Sep 1912 Arthur Wright (Standard 1) brought a tin 'squeaker' to school. He was sucking it, when it was swallowed. The master sent the boy home to inform his mother.

3 Apr 1913 We had a very interesting visitor this afternoon, Mr John Rassuessen, who left the school in 1901. He has been in India in the Rifles Brigade. Unlike many soldiers, he has made a careful study of the life, religion and matters connected with the people.  Mr Rassuessen has been into Tibet, and so ingratiated himself into the good graces of the Lamas, that he has been shown many sacred places, played chess with them and been treated as a friend. We shall try and get him to speak to the boys on India.

25 Aug 1913 HMI report There is a good deal that is very praiseworthy at this school.

19 Nov 1913 George Cornwall called to inform us he had gained a Draper's scholarship and is going to Cambridge in October. He gained a scholarship at the secondary school from this school in 1908.

24 Nov 1913 A choir of boys from this school went to the Crystal Palace on Saturday to take part in a musical competition, under the aegis of the palace authorities. There were 15 schools who sang, this school was the winner of the first prize, gaining 96 marks out of 100. 

The impressive Crystal Palace, in south
 London, where it was located after the
 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park
 and its destruction by fire in 1936

Updates to previous blogs

From time to time we come across images or additional material that adds significantly to earlier posts.  This article is a collection of some of those items.
 
We have added the relevant sections as postscripts to the original article, for ease of access for future visitors, and added, at the end of each section, the hyperlink to the location of the original article, with its post script.

We know that this site can only be a first draft of bigger stories for each of the short articles we produce, and are always keen to hear of more information about the subjects covered.  Please feel free to add memories to the comments section of any blog, or send in details of further information, that we will be happy to acknowledge and display, in future update round-ups.

Forest Gate Industrial School fire, 1890

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, dormitory
where children suffocated (1)

We have recently come across a copy of the Illustrated London News of 11 January 1890.  This included sketches of the fire at the Forest Gate Industrial School, on the previous New Year's Eve.
We reproduce these, below, which should be viewed in conjunction with our article on the fire, in May of this year.

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, general view of building

 The original story, with the sketches added as postscripts, can be accessed here.

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, dormitory
where children suffocated (2)

Forest Gate cinemas

A Cinema Miscellany no 24 (2003) by Brian Hornsey has provided valuable additional local material about a few of the local cinemas covered in our history of them in our Every Picturehouse tells a story feature, of July 2013. We thank him for his painstaking research.

The Imperial Palace (also known as the Regal and Rio) was for a while, around the outbreak of World War 1 known as the Forest Gate Electrical Theatre ( shortened to The Electric).

The Forest Gate Public Hall etc. In its early days had 1,000 seats, but following refurbishment around the outbreak of World War 1 they were reduced to 750 - suggesting that the earlier seating was on benches, replaced by single seats after the refit.  Prices for show around the start of World war were from 5d to 1/3d (depending on sitting within the cinema).

The Queen's.  Millionaire A E Abrahams had had such success with his Manor Park Coronation Cinema (built, nor surprisingly in 1902) that he built this - a sister cinema to it, near his Forest Gate home. Following its 1928 refit it became one of the first cinemas in the area to show talkies (introduced that year) and full length feature films.

Queen's Cinema

Poor reproduction of photograph
 of interior of Queen's Cinema

Another poor reproduction photo
 of Queen's Cinema exterior

The Odeon. It was opened on 1 March 1937 with "Thank Evans", when prices ranged from 6d to 1/-, with continuous showings from 12.30pm, daily. After the emergence of Odeon the two main cinemas in Forest Gate were it and the Queen's - operated by two of the country's major cinema chains. From this time, these two cinemas tended to show the major recent releases and the other local cinemas were left showing re-runs and 'B' movie feature films.

World War 11 and local cinemas. All places of entertainment - in Forest Gate, and nationwide - were closed on 3 September and all but essential staff were laid off (without compensation). When it became clear that the threatened invasion was not about to happen, cinemas reopened gradually, after about two weeks. 

There were four local cinemas operating by October 1939: The Odeon (1,800 seats), The Queen's (1,700 seats), The King's (600 seats) and the Splendid (550 seats). The Kings closed first, in 1940 (the circumstances are not clear). The Splendid, dropped its curtain for the final time, around then.  The Queen's was badly bombed on 21 April 1941, and its near neighbour the Odeon less severely hit.  The Odeon was repaired, but the Queen's was now gone for good.

So, by the end of the war the Odeon was the sole surviving local cinema, brining to an end a frantic half century of openings, closures, name changes and mergers locally.  The Odeon was fully restored and operating at its peak level by 1950. It was fitted with a Cinemascope screen in 1954.

Original article, with these notes and photos added as a post script, can be accessed here.

Wag Bennett and Arnie Schwarzenegger's gym

One of the most viewed articles on this site was the first (it's been all downhill since!), on the fire at Wag Bennett's gym, on Romford Road in April 2013.

Wag's house and gym (1), November 2014

The post has been viewed by a large number of both body builders and Arnie fans, as far as we have been aware. Not all of them will pass the sorry state that is the building, eighteen months after the fire.

The building has been squatted and vandalised, but has more recently been boarded up and secured.  Quite how effective this will prove to be, without a roof (!), remains to be seen.


Wag's house and gym (2), November 2014

So we are producing a two photos taken a couple of days ago, primarily for the benefit of blog visitors from beyond our local boundaries.

The original article, with these photos as a postscript i can be accessed here.

The Upper Cut Club

As visitors to this site may feel, we have an almost unhealthy obsession with this club, which ran for a single year in 1966/7 on Woodgrange Road.

We have recently come across a couple of gems that can be added to our regular coverage. Paul Osborn, who has an interest in the former pirate radio stations, of the 1960's, contacted us with a fascinating MP3 recording, attached, below.

The Club used to host regular sessions of the Giggle, Goggle, Guggle Club - essentially a disco held on Sunday afternoons, hosted by DJs from the pirate radio stations. Tony Blackburn and Ed Stewart, among others appeared.

The You Tube clip, below, is from an advert broadcast on Radio London ("Big L") on 12 August 1967. It was promoting an appearance at the Upper Cut Club, by DJ Mike Quinn, who could be seen for "Half a crown"!

Pete Drummond on Radio London reading
an advert during the morning show for the
Giggle, Goggle Guggle Show, at the
Upper Cut Club, on Saturday 12 August 1967.

Click link:  to hear. Thanks to Paul Osborn for the link

We have placed this as a postscript to the article on The Summer of Love, we published in August this year. It can be viewed here.

Prominent Rock music journalist, Peter Guralnick produced a book, published by Penguin, Sweet Soul Music in 1986. It includes photos of both Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, appearing at the Upper Cut on 18 March 1967. Close inspection of the photos shows posters on the wall of the club, adverting the event.

Sam and Dave at the Upper Cut
 Club, 18 March 1967

Guralnick credits Fred Lewis for the use of these photos.  We have been unable to track Mr Lewis down, but would like to thank him, for our ability to use them. Any other, similar photos, would be very gratefully received! We have placed these photos on our article on the Stax Tour, of April this year, which can be accessed here.

Otis Redding performing at the
Upper Cut Club, 18 March 1967