Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
National Hall, High Street Hornsey, c1900
Reporting on the the laying of the memorial stone on 7 June 1888, The Ham and High wrote,
"It is being erected by a limited liability company, the share capital of which is to be represented by 5000 shares of each. At present 4000 shares have been offered for subscription, of which about 3000 have been already taken up. The hall, which will front on to the High-street, will provide accommodation for the Hornsey District Conservative Association, a constitutional club, the Hornsey Habitation of the Primrose League, the Hornsey detachment of the 3rd Middlesex R.V. [Rifle Volunteers], concerts, balls, &c."
The hall was opened for business on 17th November 1888 when a concert was held!
The 3rd Middlesex had moved in after their Crouch End Drill Hall (see page 9 in the pdf below article here for more on the Crouch End Drill Hall) had been sold by Col. Bird of Crouch Hall. They only stayed a few years before moving up the road to The Elms.
More on the National Hall here.
Below is the hall in about 1914. Notice that the gas lamp has been replaced, possibly with an electric one.
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Comment by Paul Soper on December 8, 2023 at 17:53
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I have a book by North London historians Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms about the West Hampstead Town Hall - it would seem there was a fashion for developers to erect buildings designed on rather a grand scale for hiring out for dinners, dances, celebrations, lectures etc, which were called 'Town Halls' but were not at any time designed to be used as a town hall in the modern sense. The one in West Hampstead was eventually taken over by Decca Recording Studios, there was another in Kilburn which served a similar function. Kilurn had been opened in 1876 and West Hampstead in 1884. Clearly this building would also have been erected for the same reasons, opening in 1888. There is a connection between Kilburn, constructed by Thomas Bate as he owned the land originally on which (after he got into financial difficulties) West Hampstead was constructed and sold it to Henry George Randall who built the Town Hall there. Source: Decca Studios and Klooks Kleek 2013
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Klooks Kleek............now that conjures up faded distant memories !
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For anyone who wants to resurrect faded distant memories of Klooks Kleek the book I referred to is still available on Amazon - it includes pictures (even some by me) of the old place and the complete booking records - si I know that I saw (among many others) The Moody Blues playing as the support band to John Mayall on 29 September 1964 - the Moody Blues were paid the sum of £1.50 for the gig!
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Oh that's interesting Paul, I might get round to looking out for that. Cheers.
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