The Greenwich.co.uk guide to… 234 Trafalgar Road

Greenwich.co.uk recently reported that a London church was eyeing up the former restaurant in the Plaza building on Trafalgar Road. If a church was to be established in the former cinema building, it would mark a seventy-five year transformation from Our Gracie to His Grace – this is the story of 234 Trafalgar Road…

“Built for Mr and Mrs Greenwich”

Illustration of the proposed Granada Theatre printed by the Kentish Mercury

The Granada Theatre company was experiencing incredible growth in the 1930s across London and the south east under the stewardship of the impresario, Sidney Bernstein. Their cinemas promised customers “service with a smile” and reminded them in advertising that it should be pronounced “gra-NAH-dah”. In 1937, the chain arrived in Greenwich.

The new theatre at the busy junction of Trafalgar Road, Blackwall Lane, Woolwich Road and Vanbrugh Hill took seven months to build.  Able to seat over 1900 patrons, it was designed by C. Howard Crane, with the interior designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky.

A feature in the Kentish Mercury a week before it opened it declared the new addition to the Granada chain,  ”Built for Mr and Mrs Greenwich“.

The newspaper noted that the “predominant colour in the scheme of wall decoration is silver, set off by natural and pastel shades in various hues.”

“Behind the facade is a large area with a flat surface, where, presumably, the staff will be able to sunbathe and indulge in other forms of recreation.”

Inside the Granada was a Mighty Wurlitzer organ, able to “command a world of music, from a full symphony orchestra to a Chinese tom-tom, the human voice, ships’ syrens, the roar of an aeroplane, the crash of the surf, even a telephone bell.”

The theatre was managed at its opening by John Roberts, who had six years’ of experience in running the Rialto in Leytonstone.

It was, according to the Cinema Treasures website, the “plainest of the purpose built Granada Theatre chain.” It certainly lacked the glamour of the Woolwich Granada which had opened a few months earlier and had been billed as “the most romantic theatre ever built” – later recognised with a Grade II listing.

Opening Night

Greenwich’s Granada was opened on Wednesday 29th September 1937 by the superstar, Gracie Fields.

‘Gracie “mobbed” at Greenwich‘ was the headline in the Kentish Independent, as they reported on the presence of “Britain’s most popular comedienne”. Actually Fields was a late stand in, and it was Maureen O’Sullivan who had been due to open the Granada but she had to withdraw because she was suffering from flu.

The presence of ‘Our Gracie’ drew a crowd – estimates vary between 8,000 and 10,000 – to the theatre’s opening night. Upon arriving, Gracie went straight up to a roof balcony and performed “Sing as we go” and “Sally” for the fans out in Trafalgar Road. Photos from the opening made the next day’s Daily Mirror.

According to the Kentish Mercury, she was piped on to the stage by the Dagenham Girl Pipers. The report says:

“She described the cinema as ‘proper posh’ and then said in a rich Lancashire accent, ‘Well, I don’t suppose you want to hear me talking, you want to hear me sing. Shove a piano on the stage, lads!’ And she sang ‘Sing As We Go’, ‘I Never Cried So Much in All My Life’ and ‘Sally’”

Charlton Athletic footballers Donald Welsh and John Oakes presented a signed football on stage to a pupil from John Roan School as a reward for being the first to enrol in the “granadiers” – a kids club which gave members special deals on Saturday matinees.

Elephant Boy and Midnight Taxi were the films shown on that opening night.

The opening night of the Granada coincided with a meeting of the council, so Mayor Dabin couldn’t accept his invitation to attend the opening. He, and others from the council, instead visited the Granada on the following Monday.

Mayor Dabin declared it to be the “the last word in cinemas” and said he hoped it would be “an incentive to the traders in Trafalgar Road and to the landlords of the properties to improve their buildings”.

Greenwich had Talent

Soon after opening, an amateur talent contest was launched on Friday nights at the Greenwich Granada.

A prize of £2 was on offer for the winner and £1 for the second placed act – whichever act got the loudest applause from the audience was crowned the winner.

The first such contest took place on October 15th. Eight entrants from Greenwich, Deptford, Plumstead and as far as Chatham took to the stage to compete for the first prize. The Claire Bros, who played the accordion, took the spoils and Ted Maitland from Alliance Road, Plumstead, came second for his recital of “The Charge Of The Light Brigade”.

A few months later, Ted Scoging of Whitworth Street proved so popular with his syncopated piano routine that as well as winning the prize, he was offered a week’s engagement to perform at the Granada.

Advertising

The Granada, like all cinemas, would advertise its listings in the local papers. Flyers were also created and handed out – often with a topical twist using newspaper cuttings.

This handbill below subverted a local newspaper report of the proposed second Blackwall Tunnel to suggest it was needed to “carry the crowds” to see Arthur Tracy appear in The Street Singer.

From the Granada archive at the British Film Institute library

When newspapers reported on the strange case of noted theatre organist, Reginald Dixon, getting lost – and reported missing for a while – in a thick fog in Middlesex, the Greenwich Granada rushed out flyers exclaiming, “We’ve found him and even if it snows he will appear at Greenwich Granada.”

Memories of the Granada

Joan Collins was a child living in Tyler Street at the time of the opening of the Granada. She recalls the first night:

“It was dark. The whole Granada building was dark and I was sitting on my father’s shoulder… all of a sudden, all of the outside lights went on. Everybody cheered and screamed and clapped… and then Gracie Fields came and sang some of her popular songs. It was very special.”

Listen to Joan’s memories of the opening night of the Granada

Listen to Joan’s memories of being in the Greenwich Granadiers club for children

During the second World War, George Farnish was an assistant to the Gas Identification Officer in Greenwich. In an account of his life in he wrote before he died, he recalls having to carry out a mock gas attack on a Saturday afternoon in the town.

He placed a cannister of weak tear gas at the corner the junction by the Granada and warned shops to shut their doors and the theatre to control its fans.

“The police had to blow their whistles and shout ‘gas’, then suddenly the Granada started emptying out, people with tear gas in their eyes. The manager had not believed us and left the inlet air fans on, and the place had filled very quickly. ”

In his memoirs, Greenwich-born author Christopher Fowler remembers the Granada as a place where “hunchbacked, chain-smoking pensioners whiled away their afternoons because they got cheap tickets to the early shows. When they weren’t noisily unwrapping boiled sweets in the quiet parts of the film, they were creeping around the toilets with bladder complaints.”

Bingo!

After the amazing boom of cinemas throughout the 30s came the inevitable decline. UK wide cinema admissions peaked in 1946 and had been on a downward trend ever since, dipping below one million in 1957 and continuing to fall rapidly as home television experienced a boom of its own.

The entrepreneurial Granada was looking for ways to diversify and started to introduce bingo at some of its less successful theatres. Part week bingo was introduced in Greenwich in 1963 and within five years, films had been dropped altogether.

The Granada survived as a bingo hall through to the 80s. The pictures below show that the sign which would have once advertised the features simply said, “Bingo Everyday”.

Used with permission from the Old Cinema Photos Flickr account

By the end of the 80s the bingo hall had been closed down and Granada’s time in Greenwich had come to an end.

A Star Is Born

In autumn of 1992, 234 Trafalgar Road was reborn as the Stars nightclub and is still fondly remembered by almost 400 people who have joined a Facebook group in its honour.

One former patron commented on the group, “Oh those were the days ….. crispy scruched hair ..knee boots ..and orange foundation..Dj playing the same songs in the same order every Friday.. I LOVED IT!!!!”

Another fan of the club added, “I remember my mate jumping off a raised stage at a foam party, landing on his knees and nearly breaking his legs! Priceless memories!”

For others though, the club was a place to avoid – it earned itself the unfortunate nick name, “Stabs”, with one local resident remembering that there was “always too much blood on the road outside Stars on a Saturday morning for me to ever venture in.”

By 1996, the party was over and the Stars had gone out.

The Plaza

Following the closure of Stars, developers moved in.

The building was gutted and thirty-nine new apartments were built inside.  The building was rebranded as the Plaza and shops were created at the ground level with Ladbrokes the bookmakers occupying the prime retail space facing onto Trafalgar Road.

Local journalist Darryl Chamberlain took these photos at the time of the transformation.

In 2006,  Caffreys Sports Bar requested permission from Greenwich Council to be able to offer pole dancing from its premises in the Plaza building.

The proposal proved to be hugely controversial and a campaign was launched by local residents to oppose the plan.

The Council’s Licensing Committee did, however, grant permission for dancing to go ahead – but, to the relief of local campaigners, a Stop Notice was issued by the Council at the last minute to stop the bar from trading.

That Stop Notice was successfully appealed by the owner, Shopsearch UK Limited, and in 2009 the council was quietly ordered to pay over £70,000 to compensate the owner for lost income.

A chinese restaurant opened for a while above the bookmakers but the space is now empty and various planning applications for changes of use have been submitted to the council, including for use as a place of education, a three bedroom apartment and most recently as a place of worship.

Sidney Bernstein himself did not get attached to bricks and mortar. In fact, he strongly resisted his Tooting and Woolwich theatres being listed and while the Greenwich Granada may not boast their splendour, its eventful history and unmissable presence at one of Greenwich’s busiest junctions makes it part of the fabric of East Greenwich.

With thanks to the the Greenwich Heritage Centre, the British Film Institute library, Joan Collins, Darryl Chamberlain and Dr Mary Mills.

New church proposed above Trafalgar road bookies

A new church could be set up above a bookmakers at the Plaza building in Trafalgar Road.

Christ Ladder Ministries has submitted a “change of use” planning application to Greenwich Council to have an area on the former cinema’s first floor designated as a place of worship.

Most recently used as a restaurant, the first floor property above Ladbrokes already has planning consent to operate as an educational establishment.

See the Christ Ladder Ministries’ planning application

Planning permission has also been given previously for the space to be converted into a three bedroom apartment.

At the time of writing, the church had not replied to a request for more information about its plans.

If the church gets the go-ahead, it will be but the latest twist in the eventful history of 234 Trafalgar Road. Next week Greenwich.co.uk profiles the building from the Granada cinema through to the current day.

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Restaurant fire closes Trafalgar Road

Photo taken by @j0annepsi

Traffic came to a stand-still on Tuesday evening as a fire broke out at a restaurant in Trafalgar Road.

Around 20 firefighters and four fire engines attended the blaze at Othello Steak House, 113 Trafalgar Road, near the junction of Lassell Street.

Trafalgar Road was closed to traffic in both directions as firefighters from East Greenwich, Greenwich, Lee Green and Deptford stations got the blaze under control.

There were no injuries and the fire caused damaged to the 1st floor and roof.

Three found guilty of bike shop robbery

A GANG of three robbers, whose ringleader threatened a shop manager that there would be ‘trouble’ if he didn’t show them where the safe was, were found guilty today.

Adrian Martin, 20, Samuel Morrison, 21, and Gavin Walters, 29, robbed £440 of takings from the Cycle Warehouse in Trafalgar Road, Greenwich, on January 12 this year.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found them all guilty of robbery after just two hours of deliberation.

Earlier the court heard from manager Matthew Munro how three hooded men with scarves covering their faces entered his shop at 5.45pm just as he had finished cashing up for the day.

Testifying behind a screen, he said one of them gestured to his hoodie pocket and demanded to be shown the safe.

He said: “[The first one] came behind the counter and grabbed me by the shirt and said ‘this is what’s going to happen’.

“He asked about the safe and I lied and said we don’t have a safe. I said that all we have is the £100 we took today that was in an envelope on the counter and he proceeded to pick it up.

“Then he said ‘I know there is a safe here, I don’t want there to be any trouble and he grabbed his hoodie pocket implying he had a weapon so I told him where the safe was.”

Mr Munro opened the safe for the robbers who took four days worth of takings that had been left in there, the court heard.

Police who were called by Mr Munro picked up the gang in a black VW Beetle within 10 minutes of the incident and found envelopes containing the takings from the shop in the car.

Martin of Fenwick Road, Peckham, Morrison of Boreman House, Thames Street, Greenwich and Walters of Courtney Hotel, Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park, East London, all denied robbery.

Sentencing was adjourned until August 6 for pre sentence reports.

New flower shop blooms on Trafalgar Road

A brand new florist has opened for business in Trafalgar Road, Greenwich.

Mike Catterall Floral Designs had its grand opening over the weekend and welcomed customers with a glass of champagne.

Mike, who has twenty years experience as a florist, told Greenwich.co.uk a little about how the new shop came about:

I moved to London eight years ago, and would always come to Greenwich at the weekends and decided I really wanted to live here. It was when I was looking for somewhere to live here that I found the shop at the same time and it all fell together very quickly.

The shop will be open seven days a week and Mike even intends to open on Christmas Day for those customers who need a very last minute bouquet.

The new business caters for all floral requirements but Mike tells me most of his intricate work is for funerals and has included a pint of beer, a cup and saucer, Nemo the fish from ‘Finding Nemo’ and even a pair of Dorothy’s shoes from ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

Mike Catterall Floral Designs is at 93 Trafalgar Road.

200 more buildings to be locally listed – is your house one of them?

APOLOGIES for delaying last week’s column until this week – I have been waiting, so far in vain, for news of the Olympics planning application (promised by “late November” – only one day left, guys!) and the closure of the foot tunnel (supposed to be discussed by the council’s cabinet on 17 November – but the meeting was cancelled).

I’ll post a new column as soon as I have anything concrete to tell you on either subject – probably later this week – but while we wait, let’s talk conservation areas. There are six in SE10 and the Greenwich borough parts of SE3 – and the council has been reviewing five of them: West Greenwich, Greenwich Park, East Greenwich, Blackheath and Blackheath Park. The sixth, Ashburnham Triangle, was done last year but I will include that too, for completeness. The reviews also consider whether any more buildings should be listed or locally listed.

Greenwich Council reviews always cause small a ping on my sonar – is the agenda to sneak through something we might not like? In this case, however, there appears to be little cause for alarm. The proposals from the six reviews are as follows:

- Listing about 25 buildings, all in Ashburnham Triangle; see below for the full list.

- Locally listing about 200 buildings, including the Greenwich Power Station, the Pavilion tea-house in the Park and most of the Span estates in Blackheath. See below for the full list.

- In West Greenwich, reducing the boundaries of the conservation area to take out flats “of no special merit” around Dutton Street and Winforton Street. Adding two Victorian schools, St Alfege with St Peters (in Creek Road) and James Wolfe (Randall Place). Possibly adding the cabaret club in Creek Road.

- In East Greenwich, extending the conservation area to include the whole of Trafalgar Road from Christ Church to the Royal Naval College, including all of Old Woolwich Road.

- In Ashburnham Triangle, small extensions on the fringes the conservation area. (No changes proposed to the boundaries of the other three.)

All buildings in conservation areas are subject to extra planning controls – on, for instance, the placement of satellite dishes and the size of extensions allowed, fences, walls and railings. West Greenwich, East Greenwich and the Ashburnham Triangle (though not the other three) are “Article 4″ conservation areas with enhanced protection where nearly all external alterations, including re-roofing and new windows and doors, need planning permission.

Listed buildings have statutory protection – that is, it is a criminal offence to change them (inside or out) without special listed building consent. Locally listed buildings have no special extra protection – they are just buildings the council thinks are nice. Having your house on the local list might increase its value, though.

The buildings proposed for listing (in alphabetical order by street) are:

Blackheath Road: 53-75 (odd numbers)
Greenwich High Road: 21, 24, 26, 28, 133, 133a, 135
Greenwich South Street: 80-98 (even numbers)

The buildings proposed for local listing (in alphabetical order by street) are

Ashburnham Place: 18-27 (odd)
Corvette Square: all
Greenwich Park: Pavilion Tea House
Greenwich Park Street: Former Post Office sorting office
Greenwich Power Station and coal jetty
Hardy Cottages: all
Kidbrooke Park Road: 11-29 (odd)
Maze Hill: 75-81, 89-93 (odd)
Orlop Street: all
Point Hill: 29-35 (odd)
Randall Place: All houses on north side
Roan Street: 33-47 (odd)
Shooters Hill Road: 63-103 (odd)
Straightsmouth: Lovibonds Brewery Warehouse
Trafalgar Road: 177
Wellington Grove: St Ursula’s School

Plus most of the Span estates in Blackheath Park, including The Plantation, Corner Green, The Keep, The Lane and The Hall except 1-27 Foxes Dale and 51-63 The Hall.

It’s also nice to see how the Greenwich Park conservation area appraisal waxes lyrical about the park’s “sense of continuity and timelessness” that “acts as an oasis for visitors… hugely significant for historical, cultural and ecological reasons.” The Olympics’ll soon put a stop to all that nonsense, eh!

PS – Nice to see the Mercury and News Shopper following up another one of our stories – on Chris Roberts’ moonlight flit to a safer ward – for the second time in two weeks, though again sadly without acknowledgement. You read it here first…

Bishop of Woolwich to visit East Greenwich

The Rt. Revd. Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Woolwich will be visiting the Parish of Christ Church East next Tuesday – his first such visitation in four years.

At 3pm on Tuesday 17th November Rev. Derek Clacey will take the Bishop to visit the East Greenwich Traders Association at Greenwich Communication Centre in Trafalgar Road where he will be introduced to representatives of the East Greenwich Traders Association.

The Bishop will learn about projects underway in East Greenwich including the community initiative of the ‘East Greenwich Cultural Corridor’ – a project of culture led regeneration to revitalise East Greenwich in time for the Olympics.

Park Protesters Meet To Discuss Next Steps

Opponents of plans for the 2012 Equestrian events to be held in Greenwich Park held a meeting at the Forum@Greenwich in Trafalgar Road last week to discuss the next steps in their campaign.

Issues discussed at the NOGOE (No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events) meeting included advertising restrictions on local traders near to the venue, enforceable under the Olympics Act 2006, and also a possible partial closure of the park again the year after the Olympics to allow for re-seeding where the temporary 23,000 seater stadium will have been erected.

The protest group also put forward the idea that if the events were not held in Greenwich Park, it could still form part of the games by being a location for large TV screens for viewing all of the events from an iconic location.

NOGOE have so far collected 6,000 signatures against the plans, and appealed to supporters to assist with further signature collections and even a possibly rally which might include a human ring around the park.

Sev D’Souza from NOGOE tells Greenwich.co.uk that they do not yet consider this to be a done deal, and they believe that LOCOG has a “plan B” which they could be forced to adopt if there are enough protests.

Meanwhile, Greenwich Council has called on LOCOG to ensure that they consult local people over possible road closures.  The Government has published the Olympic Route Network (ORN) – roads that could be closed whilst the games take place – which includes 44 roads in the borough of Greenwich.

Cllr Roberts, said, “”It’s crucial that the Olympic agencies take into account the views of local residents and businesses – who are after all the ones who will be most affected – before finalising their transport plans. Local people should be reassured that the Council will not support any proposals that fail to reflect local concerns.”

Major Gas Mains Replacement Starts July 1st

A five month project by Scottish Gas Networks to replace old gas mains in Greenwich town centre will begin on July 1st.  The utility company is spending £270,000 replacing metallic mains with new plastic piping that should last for a minimum of 80 years.

The works are taking place in Trafalgar Road, Romney Road and Nelson road, and require road closures during the replacement programme.

There will be three phases to the project:

Phase One: Work taking place in Greenwich Church Street, from number 8, along Nelson Road to just past the junction between Romney Road and King William Walk. Starting 1 July, for approximately 12 weeks, a series of diversions will be in place to enable the safe laying of a new main in an open trench.

From 1 July, for approximately five weeks, the left turn from Nelson Road into Greenwich Church Street will be closed. Traffic will be diverted via Creek Road and Norman Road to Greenwich High Road, where motorists will continue along their intended route.

In addition, westbound buses on routes 177, 180 and 386 towards Greenwich South Street will also divert via Creek Road, Norman Road and Greenwich High Road to Greenwich South Street. Buses on route 199 coming from Surrey Quays will turn right from Creek Road into Norman Road and Greenwich High Road to Greenwich South Street.

The remainder of phase one will see the reinstatement of the left turn out of Nelson Road and two-way temporary traffic lights installed in Romney Road and King William Walk.

Phase Two: Work taking place along Romney Road to the junction of Trafalgar Road and Eastney Street. From 24 September, for approximately nine weeks, the bus lane will be closed but two-way traffic will be maintained.

Phase Three: Work taking place along Trafalgar Road from the Eastney Street junction to the junction with Hoskins Street. From 26 November, for approximately four weeks, temporary two-way traffic lights will be in place. Maze Hill will also be temporarily closed during this phase with diversions in place.

SGN Team Manager Gareth Lewis said: “We’ve been working closely with the Greenwich Council and the emergency services to find the most effective way to minimise overall disruption while carrying out this essential work.  Advance warning and diversion signs will be in place throughout the course of our work and access to homes and businesses will be maintained”.

Dance and Draw at Forum@Greenwich

Learn how to draw, and learn how to dance… at the same time! Dance and Draw is a cool new experience taking place at the Forum@Greenwich in Trafalgar Road.

The purpose of the sessions is to encourage people to express themselves, gain self confidence and reduce session.

The innovative Dance and Draw sessions are available in an afterschool slot for teenagers and there’s also evening sessions.

Find out more about Dance and Draw here

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