Granada Greenford
229 Greenford Road,
Greenford,
UB6 8QY
229 Greenford Road,
Greenford,
UB6 8QY
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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
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.
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 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.
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?
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.
Photographs of the Wurlitzer organ console which was installed in the Granada:
http://www.ukwurlitzer.co.cc/2219.html
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.
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 Rolling Stones performed on the stage in 1964, and part of their EP ‘Got Live if you Want It’ was recorded there.