Watford Colosseum is an entertainment venue in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Established in 1938, as the Assembly Rooms for Watford Town Hall, the complex was extended in 2011 with the extension including new meeting spaces, a new restaurant and a new bar.
- Venue
- Watford Colosseum
- Address
- Rickmansworth Rd, Watford WD17 3JN
- Town
- Watford, GB
Watford Colosseum is an entertainment venue in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Established in 1938, as the Assembly Rooms for Watford Town Hall, the complex was extended in 2011 with the extension including new meeting spaces, a new restaurant and a new bar. In October 2024, Watford Council announced that AEG Presents would take over the management and operation of the venue when it reopened in August 2025, following the completion of refurbishment works. Performers at the venue have included the soprano Maria Callas in September 1954 and the tenor Luciano Pavarotti in June 1995. The Colosseum has been used to record various film soundtracks and is regularly used to host concerts by the BBC Concert Orchestra, including Friday Night is Music Night. It has also housed performances by performers including The Who, Robbie Williams, and Oasis. The Colosseum is also an important venue for boxing matches with heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury building on his reputation, shortly after turning professional, in 2009. The venue also has seen some important and highly popular plays taking place and it regularly holds events in support of charities. The 2020 Snooker Shoot Out professional snooker tournament was held at the Colosseum between 20 and 23 February 2020. Watford Colosseum was built in 1938 as Watford Town Hall Assembly Rooms on the site of an early 18th century mansion, The Elms, which had been purchased by the council in 1919. It was designed by architect Charles Cowles-Voysey and acoustician Hope Bagenal, and cost £186,000. It acquired a worldwide reputation for its fine acoustics, and throughout the second half of the twentieth century it was used for concerts and recordings by leading orchestras and musicians. Rising costs and falling attendance led the council to close it in 1994, reopening it in 1995 as the Colosseum in a joint management agreement with a commercial company who had previously operated at the Town and Country Club in London (now known as The Forum, K