The neglected jewel in Walthamstow's crown: Part One

Waltham Forest, the London Borough where I live, isn't one of the most well known.

When you mention London to someone living outside the M25, I would imagine the boroughs they would mention would be Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth and Hackney.

This is a shame, as Waltham Forest has a sprinkling of places that are well worth a visit.

The William Morris Gallery, Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, Vestry House Museum and 491 Gallery are all highly recommended.

However, the most fascinating building in Waltham Forest, the EMD Cinema on Hoe Street, Walthamstow, is currently not open to the public. A gallery of tedious flyposters are stuck across the boards over the entrance, several of the small windows are broken and there are graffiti swirls on the dark blue fire exit doors.

It's a sorry state for a building steeped in history. Thankfully, the McGuffin Society, which is campaigning for the cinema to be reopened, is determined that history will not be forgotten.

The cinema was opened as Victoria Hall, a venue for dancing and concerts in 1887, during Victorian times.

It made history as early as 1896 when it was the first cinema to broadcast a film in London, hosted by Edward George Turner, co-founder of the first film company in Britain, which he aptly named The Walthamstow Company.

Between 1904 and 1926, Walthamstow became a centre for film production, according to local blogger Archipelago of Truth:

By 1904, Turner's company, The Walthamstow Company was developing the UK's film rental market. Production facilities burgeoned with the success of the business model. 'Precision' studios opening at 280 Wood Street, joined in 1913 by the 'British and Colonial Kinematograph Company', which relocated to the junction of Grove Road and Hoe Street to be close to where the action was. 'I.B. Davison Film Company' set up a modern dark stage at 588 Lea Bridge Road the following year. At about the same time, 'Cunard Film Limited' opened at 245 Wood Street.

The studios had various processing laboratories and there were all sorts of ancillary support industries, including, not least, the many live theatres, where the talent could be spotted and enticed to perform in the films between acts, though Walthamstow was close enough to the West End for the stars to find it easy enough to pop up for the day and knock off a few feet of film. Extras were sent over by the labour exchange, and were paid 6 shillings a day in 1924 (30p) for a crowd scene and 10 shillings (50p) extra for a speaking part according to A S Jaspar's book "Looking Back, Not in Anger" (1969). Boom times? Not exactly. They were over by 1926, when the last local studio shut.

Film production in Walthamstow may have been short lived, but the cinema was still going strong. In 1907, Victoria Hall was converted into a cinema, and was purchased in 1930 by Cecil Bernstein of Granada Theatres. It was remodelled as a "Cine-Variety" theatre, seeing almost 3,000 and offering a mixture of live entertainment and films.

The remodelling also saw a beautiful Spanish theme created inside. Pictures can be seen at the McGuffin website.

During this period, Walthamstow played host to some of the biggest names in Britain at the time.

If you thought that the 02 (the rebranded Millenium Dome) attracted some big names, a Granada visitor would have been able to enjoy The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, The Who, Chuck Berry,Scott Walker, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, to name but some of the celebrities who starred there.

The cinema was again remodelled, this time as a three screen cinema, in October 1973, with two new screening rooms built.

In 1989 the venue was purchased by the Cannon group of cinemas and was then absorbed into the Odeon chain after the Cannon Group became defunct in 1993.

In 2000, Odeon management decided to sell off with many of its older style cinemas, in favour of the hideous modern block buildings scattered across Britain that present a bland and uniformly unpleasant cinematic experience.

Because they were so concerned about customers not visiting their bland cinemas, Odeon sold the cinema to Mohan Sharma and EMD Cinemas with a restrictive covenant preventing the screening of English Language films, which led directly to the formation of the McGuffin Film Society to help restore the venue as a community cinema.

In April 2001, Odeon management finally removed the covenant. Up until then, only Bollywood films had been shown.

Mohan Sharma sold the Grade Two* listed cinema to the Universal Church Of The Kingdom of God (UCKG) for use as a new church.

The UCKG already have East London based churches in Hackney, Ilford, Plaidstow and Stratford (the latter two a bus ride away from Walthamstow Central bus station).

Other UCKG churches near Walthamstow include Edmonton (45 minutes by bus)and Finsbury Park (the UCKG headquarters, four stops on the tube from Walthamstow Central).

By contrast, Waltham Forest, a borough of 250,000 people, has no cinema. It has no theatre.

It has a handful of libraries that do their best to promote community events (Wood Street and Leytonstone are particularly good at this), as well as a handful of community-focused pubs such as the excellent Rose and Crown on Hoe Street. However, much more is needed to keep people occupied.

Waltham Forest does not have areas as dangerous as Tottenham or Wood Green, but there is a youth gang problem in several areas across the borough.

Meanwhile, the former EMD Cinema remains unused, despite its potential.

UCKG submitted plans to convert the cinema into a church, which were ruled against in 2003, and the residents of Waltham Forest are awaiting the results of the current planning application submitted by UCKG, which will be decided upon after the next election.

I'll explain more about UCKG's plans for the former cinema, a Grade Two* listed building,the Arcade development, and the opposition of local residents in another post.

I think you'd agree with me that the cinema is worth saving.