Granada Greenford
229 Greenford Road,
Greenford,
UB6 8QY
229 Greenford Road,
Greenford,
UB6 8QY
3 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Granada Theatres Ltd.
Architects: Henry Braddock, Charles Dixon, Cecil Aubrey Masey
Functions: Supermarket
Styles: Art Deco, Spanish Renaissance
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A large theatre located in Greenford, Middlesex, today a district on the west side of Greater London. The Granada Theatre opened on 13th November 1937 with Alice Faye in "Wake Up and Live" and Claire Trevor in "King of Gamblers". Film star Gracie Fields attended the opening ceremony and the Wurlitzer 3Manuals/8Rank (with grand piano) theatre organ was opened by Dudley Beaven.
The Granada Theatre was built for Sidney Bernstein’s Granada Theatre’s circuit and it was considered to be what is termed ‘a standard Granada’. It was built on the site of a Roman Catholic church which was demolished to build the cinema. Architects Charles Dixon and Henry Braddock were in charge of the design under the consultation of architect Cecil Masey. The façade had a simple brick entrance block which had a slim vertical tower feature with the theatre’s name in neon lettering. The interior was designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky and had a series of 3 ornamental grilles on each side of the proscenium and a large ornamental feature in the ceiling, from which hung a large ‘Granada’ style chandelier. The theatre was equipped for stage shows and had a large car park.
It was a little off the beaten track and not close to a main shopping centre, a reason which made this particular Granada Theatre not a huge success. It was closed on 15th September 1966 with Sean Connery in "A Fine Madness" and "Dead Man’s Chest".
The building was converted into a Tesco supermarket which remains open today. There is nothing to be seen of the original decoration in the supermarket due to a false ceiling which has been suspended forward of the balcony front, but it still remains above false suspended ceilings and behind walls of shelving.
In the summer of 2009, Tesco announced they planned to demolish the building and build a purpose-built supermarket on the site.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Rolling Stones performed on the stage in 1964, and part of their EP ‘Got Live if you Want It’ was recorded there.
Tesco should be proud of this building and should be doing all they can to preserve it, not demolish it. Is there any organized attempt to save the Greenford Granada from the wreckers?
The plans as I understand them from the Ealing Borough web site will involve the preservation of the tower and facade (Part of a conservation area) while the Auditorium block will be demolished and the new store built on an extended site behind. Either way it is sad to see this cinema finally going particularly as there may be parts of the Theodore Komisarjevsky scheme remaining hidden from view.
It would be good if it could be preserved whole. I no longer live in the area but i’m sure there must be some people locally who would like it saved as a whole.
Photographs of the Wurlitzer organ console which was installed in the Granada:
http://www.ukwurlitzer.co.cc/2219.html
The Granada, Greenford, was hardly off the beaten track, the shops began at the traffic lights, all of three minutes away, and about another five to the market in the middle of town, unless, of course, you were walking into a headwind.
I can ‘sort of’ understand Tesco wanting to rebuild here. Although it had a lot of seats, the interior of the building was/is quite cramped, and the present store is very small by Tesco standards. However…… there isn’t a lot of room out the back to extend into, there being a sloping municipal car park very close to the back wall of the present building, so I don’t quite see their rationale. Maybe they want to extend upwards?
I have been exploring this amazing old cinema, there is a lot of the original decor left hidden from view! The amazing ceiling is completely intact! I have taken a lot of photos which I’ll post as soon as I work out how. This is a real hidden time capsule.
Incredible pictures Adam, Its amazing how much has survived the conversion to Tesco. Are they still planning to demolish it in the near future?
I worked at the Granada Greenford. Interesting that it was built over a demolished Catholic Church as the place was haunted by a ghost we named “Charlie”. He gave us many a scare and particularly didn’t like us inhabiting our staff room. While under the management of Harry Mansfield we became quite famous with the west end theatre crowd. They kept the theatre packed when we showed such films as “New Faces” with the then unknown Eartha Kitt. And we again packed them in with standing room only for the showing of Carmen Jones. So sad that it is no more.
Effo: Do you know the name of the Catholic Church that was demolished to make way for the Granada? Please let me know as I am writing a piece about the theatre for my Granada Theatre Circuit series of pieces at stories-of-london.org Thanks. Charles