An East End Childhood

Aerial view of Docklands

Image credit: Katie Chan

Reg Varney was born on 11 July 1916 and brought up in Canning Town, near London’s Docklands, one of the most deprived parts of the capital at the time.

 

‘For three-quarters of the year,’ Reg  wrote in his autobiography The Little Clown, ‘the sun was rarely seen and even in summer it was hazy, struggling through the polluted atmosphere.’

Even today, despite being a neighbour to many modern Dockland developments, Canning Town, according to Wikipedia (October 2015), remains among the 5 per cent most deprived areas in the UK with local people suffering from poor health, low education and poverty.

The area is currently undergoing significant regeneration. According to Newham borough council: 'The Canning Town and Custom House Regeneration Programme includes the building of up to 10,000 new homes, creation of thousands of new jobs and two improved town centres. This £3.7 billion project aims to transform the area physically, socially and economically.'

Here's the modern development of Rathbone Market in a Canning Town which Reg Varney would not recognise were he around today.

An artist's impression of the new development of Canning Town's Hallsville Quarter

Forming part of the Programme, Hallsville Quarter as it has now been named will act as the catalyst for the transformation of the wider area, helping to form a new, thriving and prosperous district centre for this emerging area of east London.


Image credits:  http://www.steelconstruction.info and http://www.rathbonemarket.com/

Many prominent landmarks of the area have been destroyed by developers during the process of ‘regeneration’, replaced by housing or office blocks. Some fine public buildings still remain, like Canning Town Public Library, seen above, which retains its Grade II Listed Building status. It was built by the Corporation of the Borough of West Ham, to designs by the Borough Engineer and Architect Lewis Angell FRIBA.

© Image: Copyright Stephen Craven
http://www.geograph.org.uk

The photo is of the laying of the foundation stone of the Library in 1892.  Local people must have been so proud of the building judging by the crowds which attended. 

Image credit: http://www.newhamstory.com

The building, as the Newham Local Plan puts it, is ‘clearly distinguishable from surrounding buildings and could therefore warrant further protection’. But even this fine building could undergo a change of use one day. ‘The Aurelia development (opposite these buildings) intends to deliver a new library and community facility which may bring the future use of the buildings into question,’ admits the Local Plan. ‘Placing them within an Area of Townscape Value could help to strengthen recognition of their heritage value in any re-use plans.’

With all that regeneration in London’s Docklands many landmarks that would have been familiar to Reg Varney have disappeared. Pubs have been notable casualties.

Here’s a sad-looking photo of The Anchor, situated at the corner of Star Lane and Liverpool Road. It was rebuilt by Courage Brewery in 1904.

Redevelopment in the 1970s meant that it lost all its neighbours but it carried on in a somewhat isolated position until closure in 2001, closing shortly after a rather gruesome murder in the pool room. It was occupied by a charity for a while and plans to convert the former pub into a lap dancing club were rejected in 2005.

A useful site from which this photo is taken is
http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/london/e16_canningtown.html

The former Royal Oak pub on Barking Road

Where Canning Town’s pubs have not been demolished the buildings have been put to alternative use. Here’s The Royal Oak, a fine Grade II listed building on the junction of the A124 Barking Road and Oak Crescent (on the left). 

It’s been used as a betting shop, but Newham’s Local Plan document dated January 2015 noted that ground floor is an empty shop unit and the floors above have been converted into flats.

https://www.newham.gov.uk/

Image credit: David Anstiss http://www.geograph.org.uk/more.php?id=3104413

 



Notable East End casualties of the planners and developers, along with the area’s pubs, have been its theatres and cinemas. Some, like the Hackney Empire, seen above, have been famously rescued. “Built in 1901, the Hackney Empire with its electric lights, central heating and in-built projection box was a technological wonder of its time,” reads the website. But by 1963 it had become a bingo hall and modernisation was threatening the building.

In 1984 the Empire became a Grade II* listed building and Mecca were ordered to restore the domes on the Mare Street façade. Faced with the financial costs of restoring the building's exterior to its original state, Mecca found themselves looking for a new owner. Only in 2004 was it effectively restored following a major appeal. 

http://www.hackneyempire.co.uk
Image credit: Tarquin Binary

The Theatre Royal Stratford East

The Theatre Royal Stratford East in the London Borough of Newham is another theatre which narrowly missed destruction.

It was built on the site of a wheelwright's shop on Salway Road, close to the junction with Angel Lane, designed by architect James George Buckle, who was commissioned by the actor-manager Charles Dillon, and opened in 1884. It had successful beginnings and the early 20th century saw it entirely reupholstered, reseated, and carpeted; electric light was installed; and stage boxes were added to the auditorium.

The theatre specialised in melodramas at this time and remained in almost constant use, staying open during World War I. Later, it fell into financial difficulties, opening only irregularly after 1926. About 1950, a touring company presented the Christmas pantomime, Alice in Wonderland. The company were to return, as the Theatre Workshop in 1953. They took over the theatre with Joan Littlewood as artistic director and Gerry Raffles as manager.

The late 1960s saw the start of the regeneration of Stratford, which would include the demolition of Angel Lane, Salway Road and the theatre itself. Just as the bulldozers were making their way along Angel Lane, Gerry Raffles obtained a last-minute provisional Grade II Preservation Order for the theatre, saving it from destruction. Nevertheless, there were persistent attempts by developers to have the theatre demolished. Gerry Raffles was on constant guard, tearing down barriers erected by builders next to the theatre and making sure a bulldozer never ‘accidentally’ knocked down one of the supporting walls.

The building was saved by a public campaign and protected in June 1972 by English Heritage with a Grade II* listing. Money remained short, and the manager, Gerry Raffles only managed redecoration and replacements as cash became available. In 1984, the front of house was refurbished and in 2001, following a successful Heritage Lottery Fund bid, it completed the redevelopment of all of its front of house and backstage areas as part of a project to create the Stratford Cultural Quarter.

See more at: http://www.stratfordeast.com
Image credit: Pedleysd

 

Canning Town's Rathbone Cinema, now demolished

East End cinemas had less luck than the Hackney Empire and Stratford’s Theatre Royal.

Cinema-going was extremely popular throughout the 1920s and 30s, with people going two or three times a week to enjoy the glamour of Hollywood and the plush interiors of the cinemas. Canning Town actually had one of the first purpose-built cinemas, opened in 1909 in Rathbone Street.

'Operated by W. Sweetingham, his Canning Town Bioscope opened after the closure of his Barking Road property,' writes Ken Roe on the Cinema Treasures website at http://cinematreasures.org/

'It opened with a seating capacity of 400. It was taken over by Gales by 1912 and they employed architects Emden & Egan to enlarge the cinema. Further alterations were carried out in 1919, when Sweetinghams had re-taken the operation of the cinema.

By 1921, it was known as the Rathbone Cinema with 1,000 seats. The Rathbone Cinema was closed in 1930, probably never being equipped for sound films. It was demolished and today, housing is on the site.'

A sad end to a fine building which the Varney family would have known.     Image credit: http://www.newhamstory.com

The New Imperial Cinema, demolished to build a flyover

Here’s another amazing-looking but unlucky Canning Town building used as a cinema and then destroyed in the name of progress.

Ken Roe on the Cinema Treasures website writes:

'Located on the corner of Barking Road and Victoria Dock Road, opposite Canning Town station in east London. Opened in 1875 as Relf’s Music Hall, it later became the Royal Albert Music Hall. Rebuilt in 1909 as the Imperial Palace of Varieties to the plans of John Farmer, the building had been transferred brick by brick from the demolished 1,150-seat Royal Aquarium Theatre (later Imperial Theatre), Westminster which had been designed by Frank T. Verity in 1901, and had closed in 1908. It was screening films by 1912 and later became the Imperial Cinema. It burnt down on 16th March 1931.

Rebuilt in 1934 to the plans of architect Charles Brett, it was rebuilt in an Art Deco style to the plans of noted cinema architect George Coles and re-opened as the New Imperial Cinema on 15th May 1939 with Bing Crosby in "Paris Honymoon" and Boris Karloff in "Son of Frankenstein". Well known comedian Sandy Powell made a personal apprearance, and organist Max Bruce opened the Wurlitzer 2Manual/5Rank organ, which had been transfered from the Tolmer Cinema, Kings Cross. The cinema had a fully equipped stage and four dressing rooms.

The New Imperial Cinema was taken over by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne based Essoldo Cinemas chain in January 1955 and re-named Essoldo. The Essoldo was closed on 22nd September 1963 with Brian Donlevy in "The Quatermass Experiment" and Boris Karloff in "The Black Room". It was converted into a bingo club, which operated for several years. In 1967 it was demolished to build the Canning Town flyover road.'

Image and text credit: http://cinematreasures.org

You can read more about Reg Varney’s amazing life in the book Our Little Clown by Michael Downes, obtainable at Fairlynch Museum. See http://fairlynchmuseum.uk/publications.html

Continued at 
http://regvarney100.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/a-close-knit-family-in-strong-community.html