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A Brief History of Wilton’s Music Hall.
There was a public house on the corner of Grace's Alley called The Prince
of Denmark though it was known locally as the Old Mahogany Bar from its
reputation as the first public house in London to have mahogany fittings.
Around this time the manager of the pub started to put on saloon theatre
entertainment.
John Wilton bought the premises and in 1853 rebuilt the saloon and called
it Wilton's Music Hall. Wilton brought quality entertainment to the hall
and all the latest attractions. Soon it was all paying off so he bought
up neighbouring premises and acquired all the back land to the alley and
Cable Street so he could expand the building.The old hall closed for demolition
on 14 March and the grand opening of the new one was on 28 March 1859.
John Wilton died aged 60, Wiltons continued as a music hall until 1884.
The hall was taken over by the East End Mission of the Methodist Church
in 1885 and kept the name The Old Mahogany Mission until 1956. In the
first dock strike of 1898 it served 2,000 meals a day to the strikers
and was the HQ for the people of the East End who gathered to stop Mosley's
fascists in the Battle of Cable Street, and in World War II gave shelter
to a badly blitzed community. During the 1950s the Mission set up a mobile
cinema called Penny Pictures, it also operated in the streets of the East
End.
In 1956 Wiltons was sold and used as a rag warehouse. Having survived
the bombing of the London docks it was next in line for the slum clearances
and demolition plans of the 1960s. In 1964 Sir John Betjeman campaigned
to make Wiltons a listed building to save it from demolition. Wiltons
was given a Grade II * listing. Many people have helped in saving Wiltons
- they include Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellars, John Earl, Colin Sorensen,
Liza Minelli, Norma Dunbar, Roy Hudd and Christopher Biggins. For many
years it was owned by the GLC and then the London Music Halls Trust.In
1885 the hall was bought by a gospel mission and remained under them until
1956. It was bought by the Greater London Council in 1966. They claimed
all the local land for slum clearance. But the British Music Hall Society
went to the public inquiry and said Wilton's could not be destroyed as
it was the only remaining music hall.
Since 1999 Broomhill Opera have been based at Wilton's. They are the first
theatre company to have a permanent base at the music hall .When the company
discovered the building it was without heating, water and half the roof
was missing. They carried out some repairs with the help of people who
offered their labour and materials for free and with some assistance from
English Heritage.
John Earl, music hall historian and friend of Wilton's writes:
I can remember walking into Wilton's in 1963 and saying something has
got to be done about this and it's got to be done now. It is only when
you walk in that you realise what an incredible building it is, only when
you are in here can you feel it. Wilton's is one of a population of one.
It's very unusual to find any entertainment building of this type untouched,
especially a building of this period. In 1963 it was a very close call
that the building wasn't demolished. The entire area was going to be flattened
by the Greater London Council as part of slum clearance, including Wilton's.
Wilton's Music Hall is such a great rarity historically and architecturally.
There are few buildings that you walk into which provoke an emotional
response.It is an extreme rarity in world terms. There are other music
halls but not like this one - not as large and untouched. I would like
it to be delicately restored and go on to see it being used with a variety
of users, not forgetting the local community
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