Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Harringay Arena - closed 50 years ago today
Spare a moment for the old girl.
Visit our Arena photos page.
Have a look at these three old film clips- one two three.
And have a quick gander at my Wikipedia page on the Arena
Visit our Arena photos page.
Have a look at these three old film clips- one two three.
And have a quick gander at my Wikipedia page on the Arena
Tags for Forum Posts: Billy Graham, arena, harringay arena, history, history of harringay
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Missed a chance here for a little 'flash mob' action. We could all have converged on the carpark dressed as our fave moment from the photos of the Arena: Roy Rogers, Billy Graham, clowns, showjumpers, iceskaters, musicians, boxers etc and stood in the carpark for a 2 minute silence. We'd have looked like ghosts from the past.
Perhaps Haringey Arts could organise something (like that Victorian Goth picnic you photographed) next year.
Anyway wish it was still there, instead of a Sainsbury's and a Superdrug...not exactly the stuff of future nostalgia
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Permalink Reply by Simon T on
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I think its easy to be nostalgic about something we never experienced, imagine if both were still open today the extra people ,traffic and rubbish they would generate i'd much rather live near the lovely community garden on Doncaster gardens than an exit to a dog track...... my neighbour who lived here from the early 50's once told me it was a nightmare round here on race days
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Are they talking about the stadium more? I must admit I can't get very misty eyed about the track but the Arena staged concerts, circuses, ice shows, horse shows etc. It can't have been so bad.
I wouldn't mind a venue round here now that gave us some of those options (lovely though the Community garden is).
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True but don't you think today it be more likely to be hosting boxing matches and rock concerts not quite the misty eyed vision of 30's children drinking ovaltine before they wrap up warm to go and see the lovely horses....lol
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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I was lucky enough as a very young boy, to be taken to what was I think, the last circus season in the arena.. I also went dog racing quite a few times with my family and clearly remember watching our prefab on Warwick Gardens being demolished from the stand in the Stadium, Whitsun 1960. My uncle was a judge at the dog racing from at least 1955 until 1986.
Later I went Stock Car Racing quite regularly with friends until the late 1960s and enjoyed it immensly.
Dog Racing twice a week and Stock Car on Saturdays during the summer, did mean that there really was plenty of traffic congestion, cars parked as well as rubbish everywhere in the area. (As kids we used to collect the betting tickets that were generally thrown away in disgust by the punters), not to mention the noise pollution of the Stock Car Racing and the Dog Racing..
But I do wonder if the Arena and Stadium would be that popular with the locals if they were still in business.. If I think how we get wound up here on HOL about the adverts on railway bridges, what would it be like with no parking spaces, litter etc., etc., these days? I dread to think..
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Well given that it has just taken me 20 mins to get up GL on a bus and on the way I saw cars, litter and plenty of people coming and going from the Arena shopping park, a situation that will only get worse as Christmas is coming and the fist fights that herald the new year, I'd say we haven't exactly got much different from then except now all there is to do is buy tat from shops and have a plastic burger.
And yes they can knock down the betting shop, brothel, newsagent, empty shop and HMOs at the bottom of my road to build a new venue...least the kids might get a trip to something fun once in a while
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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A very traditional style English stadium from that era with lots of individual stands and styles. This obviously wasn’t built with the Taylor Report in mind and packing ‘em in was the order of the day.
A stadium that fitted 50,000 people in 1950 would probably only hold 15,000 now due to the TR and other health and safety issues.
Stadiums that were built in urban areas have been dropping like flies in the last fifty years, more so since the late eighties as land value goes up, the owners cash in and move to an out of town soulless arenas. Stadiums or football grounds as they should be were an integral part of a community often being surrounded by terrace houses like Luton, Leyton and the old Highbury.
The modern day stadia my have all the trimmings but, like so much of our out of town planning, it lacks any historical aspect or character.
There are a few books and publications out there for ground hoppers or stadiamologists (real word according to Simon Ingels!)
http://www.amazon.com/AEROFILMS-GUIDE-Football-Grounds-Aerofilms/dp...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Premiership-Division-Football-Grounds-Befor...
http://www.worldstadiums.com/
http://www.groundtastic.co.uk/
Do I get a prize for being HOL’s biggest nerd?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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That's great Birdy, thanks.
But.....the Stadium and the Arena were different buildings. The bigger, older Stadium, lasted up till 1987.
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Didn't read the title too well, was also thinking of the photo when I typed : )
But it is still relevant, in fact more so as the stadiums demise started at the beginning of the great Stadium / ground demolishing trend in the late eighties.
The arena and stadium were in prime areas for commercial development as in so many cases nationwide.
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Permalink Reply by Flower on
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Oh happy days! Tom Arnold's Circus, Horse of the Year, 'Rose Marie' on Ice ... and my short pink skating skirt!
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