The Granada, Tooting
In the unremarkable London suburb of Tooting is Britain's only grade 1 'listed' cinema. This means it's right up there with the Tower of London and Stonehenge as a heritage masterpiece! It was built in 1930-31. It was commisioned by impresario Sidney Bernstein from the architect Cecil Massey. He adapted a design of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for another Bernstein project, the Phoenix Theatre in Charing Cross Road. The interior was designed by theatrical director and designer Theodore Komisarjevsky.
It has been a bingo hall for many years, but was open to the public on the Sunday morning of the London 'open house' weekend in September 2010.
This is the stalls, now adapted for bingo use. The decor is all over brown. I don't think it was designed that way. I think it is the result of decades of cigarette smoke. Even several years after the ban on smoking in enclosed public places it still stank of fag smoke - so much so that my clothes still slightly smelled of it when I left!
The Granada, Tooting
In the unremarkable London suburb of Tooting is Britain's only grade 1 'listed' cinema. This means it's right up there with the Tower of London and Stonehenge as a heritage masterpiece! It was built in 1930-31. It was commisioned by impresario Sidney Bernstein from the architect Cecil Massey. He adapted a design of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for another Bernstein project, the Phoenix Theatre in Charing Cross Road. The interior was designed by theatrical director and designer Theodore Komisarjevsky.
It has been a bingo hall for many years, but was open to the public on the Sunday morning of the London 'open house' weekend in September 2010.
This is the stalls, now adapted for bingo use. The decor is all over brown. I don't think it was designed that way. I think it is the result of decades of cigarette smoke. Even several years after the ban on smoking in enclosed public places it still stank of fag smoke - so much so that my clothes still slightly smelled of it when I left!