The Golders Green Hippodrome was built in 1913 by Bertie Crewe as a 3,000-seat music hall, to serve North London and the new London Underground Northern line expansion into Golders Green in the London Borough of Barnet, London, England. Taken over by the BBC in the 1960s as a television studio, it has been put to more recent use as a radio studio and multi-purpose concert venue.
- Venue
- Golders Green Hippodrome
- Address
- 1 North End Road, London, NW11 7RP, England
- Town
- London, GB
The Golders Green Hippodrome was built in 1913 by Bertie Crewe as a 3,000-seat music hall, to serve North London and the new London Underground Northern line expansion into Golders Green in the London Borough of Barnet, London, England. Taken over by the BBC in the 1960s as a television studio, it has been put to more recent use as a radio studio and multi-purpose concert venue. In 2007, it became an evangelical church building. In 2017 it was acquired by Markaz El Tathgheef El Eslami (Centre for Islamic Enlightening). It was to be converted into an Islamic centre, but residents objected, and Barnet council deferred a decision. In October 2021 Hillsong Church bought the Hippodrome, with the intention of holding Sunday services there. The Grade II listed Hippodrome Theatre building next to Golders Green Underground station was built as a 3,000-seat music hall by Bertie Crewe, and opened on Boxing Day 1913. Its capacity was reduced by half with the construction of a full theatre stage, and it began to be used for pre- and post-London tours, and has been used as a receiving venue for West End transfers - Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich, Stephane Grappelli, Arthur Askey, Charlie Chester, Django Reinhardt and Chico Marx played there. Donald Swann's Wild Thyme played in 1955, and its regular performances included an annual pantomime and Ralph Reader's Gang Show. After the Streatham Hill Theatre opened in 1929, these two venues operated as sister-theatres, with shows appearing at both as part of their tours. Touring opera was still popular at the time, and pre-war performances included the British National Opera Company and post-War in 1952 with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and a filmed production of The Mikado in 1966. The theatre appeared in an early British sexploitation nudist film called Naked as Nature Intended (1961) directed by Harrison Marks and starring Pamela Green. Charlie Girl premiered at the Hippodrome on 27 November 1965 before transferring to the Roya