*the “Hackney Empire” London E8 -“Dick Whittington-Panto” Christmas-2024

The is the last in my London Shoes trilogy of ‘Festive’ blogs for Christmas 2024 – which found ‘Shoes’ in its beloved Hackney London E8, an area where I worked throughout the entire 1990’s – and as a result, a place that holds a special place in my heart.

My workplace (ie Barclays Bank-Mare Street branch) was located directly opposite the iconic Hackney Empire Theatre – and so this famous old theatre was my scenic view every day for a decade.

The Hackney Empire was designed by the great theatre architect of the time ‘Frank Matcham’ – and was opened in 1901.

Matcham was the genius who designed loads of theatres up and down the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries – and today, over 100 years plus later, there are still a number of his magnificent buildings still in situ – for example the ‘London Palladium’ .

The Hackney Empire was, as with most theatres those day, was built as a music hall – to provide affordable entertainment for the working classes.

It cost £65k to build the ‘Empire’ and the job was completed in 38 weeks.

It was a bit of a pioneer for its time, as it was the first theatre to have electric light – cantilever balconies and an air purifying vacuum system installed.

From its initial opening in 1901 right through to the 1950’s, the Hackney Empire’s main function was as a theatre and also a cinema.

Theatre wise, the likes of Charlie Chaplin / Stan Laurel / Harry Houdini / Marie Lloyd / Louis Armstrong plus many more top names in entertainment – all ‘trodden the boards’ of the Hackney Empire.

There used to be a pub on the corner of the theatre – across the road from Hackney’s famous ‘Town Hall’ building – and the Empire was sort of built around the pub.

However – during the WW2 blitz, the poor old pub took a direct hit from a German bomb, and ended up completely obliterated – but remarkably, the theatre remained undamaged.

In 1956 the Hackney Empire took on a new role as a TV studio – when popular programmes of the time like Opportunity Knocks / Oh Boy / Take Your Pick – were all broadcast ‘live’ from the theatre.

In 1963 the Hackney Empire became a Mecca Bingo Hall – and all of its intricate carvings / sculptures / fixtures & fittings were either removed or boarded up to make the place look more like a modern bingo hall !!!

by the late 1970’s this once wonderful historic London landmark was on its last legs – neglected and completely run down. However – in 1980 English Heritage bought the place in an attempt to keep it in situ and a viable concern.

Throughout 1981 there were serious discussions around knocking the entire theatre down and turning the site into a car park  – it almost happened.

Then – out of the blue the Empire was bought by a Roland & Clare Muldoon – who apparently paid just £1k for it – as it was in such an awful condition.

The new ‘owners’ ploughed everything they had into keeping the Hackney Empire alive and restoring it to its former glory – and they succeeded – because by 1986, the theatre was it a fit state to re-open again.

Throughout the late 1980’s and through the 1990’s the Hackney Empire became THE venue for what was termed ‘alternative’ comedians to perform – the likes of Ben Elton / Julian Clary / French & Saunders / Lenny Henry – all played to sell-out audiences at the Hackney Empire.

In 2001 a £17m restoration project took place and so the Empire was closed for a couple of years.

One of its financial backers was Lord Alan Sugar – who wanted to help out financial as he had a massive love for the theatre, as it was where his Mum & Dad used to regularly take him.

Today, the Hackney Empire has 1,300 seats and is now Grade II Listed – which means its protected from being pulled down or renovated out of character.

The Hackney Empire is a big player in the local communities – especially for the youngsters, as its ‘Creative Futures’ is based there, which sees over 4,000 kids getting involved in all aspects of the arts.

There have also been annual Pantomimes held at the Hackney Empire since 1988 – which some say are always the ‘best’ in London.

For the decade or so where I was working opposite the Hackney Empire, I was always far too busy working for a living to be able to frequent the Empire in those days, with the exception of attending a few Xmas panto’s back at a time when the Bank would reward staff and their families at Christmas time, with free pantomime tickets for various London theatres – I never really got the chance to get inside and explore this iconic theatre, and soak up all its history and experience its vibe.

However – since my retirement, I have become a patron of this historic landmark – which now enables me to attend a variety of events and performances held there – and some of them for free !!!

This year (2024) I was invited to the ‘Press Evening’ of this years panto – the old classic…..“Dick Whittington & his Cat”

As everyone knows, the story involves Dick Whittington, a poor boy from the sticks who comes to London to seek his fame and fortune, thinking that the streets would be paved in gold.

Unfortunately, it all goes belly-up for him and finds himself giving up and having to shamefully walk away from London and head on back home, dejected and forlorn.

However – he gets as far as Highgate Hill where stops for one last look back at the City – and he hears the bells of Bow Bells Church (in Cheapside) ringing – and he believes that they are talking to him – telling him to “turn again Whittington – thrice Lord Mayor of London”.

So – in a nutshell – he goes back – gets in with Alderman Fitwarren and his family (especially his daughter) – and ends up doing really well for himself – becomes an influential and wealthy trader – and, just as the bells said – he eventually becomes Lord Mayor of London, not once but 3 times – and all with a cat in tow, although no one knows how that got into the story !!!

So – this years panto at the Hackney Empire follows Dick’s ( with Tommy the cat) plight as he searches for his fortune n- a journey that sees him ( & Tommy the cat) battle King Rat and all his rat’lings – sort out a Hippie commune on a desert island – fall in love with Alice (Alderman Fitzwarren’s daughter) – and eventually become Lord Mayor of London……..and in the end, they all lived happily ever after.

The characters that Dick Whittington encounters on his ‘journey’ are ‘Fairy Bow Bells’ – ‘King Rat’ – ‘Idle Jack’ – Alderman Fitzwarren’ – Alice Fitzwarren’ and of course ‘Sarah the Cook’ – played by the absolutely brilliant ‘Clive Rowe’ one of, if not the best ‘Pantomime Dame’ in the business – the guy is a legend – and not only that, he is often director of the panto’s the Empire puts on.

The costumes – the performances – the scenery – the songs – and the audience participation, all made it such an enjoyable and happy evening of excellent entertainment – which had me jeering – boo’ing – shouting ‘its behind you’ all the way through – for me and all the audience (and even the current  Mrs Shoes, (whose famous line is “I don’t whoop”) was joining in.  It was just like being an excited young kid again,,,,,such great fun, and an event that I found, really got me in the Christmas spirit, and I’m universally renowned as being a ‘Grinch’ this time of year.

So there we are – the ‘Press Night’ performance of ‘Dick Whittington & his Cat’ 2024 – at the iconic ‘Hackney Empire’ theatre 0 just such a shame they don’t let you take photos during the performance – but in any case, I hope you enjoy the snaps I did manage to take.

Happy Christmas one and all – ‘ave a good’un

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See below the entire gallery of photos taken to accompany this blog article