Rivoli Cinema
346-350 Brockley Road,
London,
SE4 2BY
346-350 Brockley Road,
London,
SE4 2BY
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The Picture Palace opened on 12th July 1913 and is located directly opposite Crofton Park railway station, in the south London area of Brockley.
Seating was provided for 500 on one floor, with no balcony. It soon became known as the Crofton Park Picture Palace and by 1918 was re-named Crofton Park Cinema. In 1931 it had been re-named Rivoli Cinema and some alterations had been carried out to modernise the buildings facade in a rather plain Art Deco style, plus a cafe was added to the facilities. The seating capacity was now 700 in the extended auditorium
It remained an Independently operated and owned cinema throughout it life. It closed on 2nd March 1957 with Kenneth Moore in “Reach for the Sky” and Nat ‘King’ Cole in “The Nat ‘King’ Cole Musical Story”. The building was boarded up for a couple of years and then re-opened on 26th December 1959 as the Rivoli Ballroom. It remains open today catering to lovers of ballroom dancing, jive, rock ‘n roll etc and has a very popular regular gay night.
In 2007 there were threats to demolish the building, but a vigorous local campaign was begun, which culminated in the building being designated a Grade II Listed building by English Heritage in January 2008.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
There is now a facebook group dedicated to saving the Rivoli. Here is its description:
Let´s buy the Rivoli and save it from evil developers… Spread the word! This is what facebook was invented for.
The Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley is under threat from money-grabbing soul-less developers, who have offered the owner 10 million quid to knock it down and build soul-less faceless and no doubt hideous apartments.
10 million squid that´s nothing! Roll up roll up let´s start a co-operative of sorts, if we get 1,000 or 2,000 or 10,000 people together, we can all own shares in the Rivoli, appoint a board of directors, own the Rivoli and make a profit to boot. THIS SHOULD BE EASY ON FACEBOOK! I would be surprised if there were not 10,000 people in London and out who love the Rivoli, are into saving historic buildings, or simply want a share in such a lovely building, a say in what goes on there, burlesque organisers and dance club owners who want to put on nights there, or just simply want to make a profit!
This is a December 2007 article about the Rivoli/ballroom.
Two vintage photographs of the Rivoli Ballroom in July 1983:
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