Harringay Arena was a sporting and events venue on
Green LanesGreen Lanes, London, is a main road in North London and forms part of the A105. At approximately 7.5 miles from end to end, it is one of the longest streets in the capital....
in
HarringayHarringay is a residential area of North London, part of the London Borough of Haringey, United Kingdom. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the northern boundary of Finsbury Park up to the southern boundary of Duckett's Common, not far from Turnpike Lane.-Location:The...
, North
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Built in 1936, it lasted as a venue until 1958.
Construction
The Arena was built and owned by Brigadier-General
Alfred CritchleyBrigadier-General Alfred Cecil Critchley, CMG, CBE, DSO was an entrepreneur and politician in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1934 to 1935....
under the auspices of his private company, the
Greyhound Racing Association Trust LtdThe Greyhound Racing Association is a private company involved in the management of sports venues.It currently operates five sites:*Oxford Stadium*Wimbledon Stadium, London*Hall Green Stadium, Birmingham*Perry Barr Stadium, Birmingham...
(GRA). A new company,
Harringay Arena Limited, whose directors were also directors of the GRA, was incorporated in 1929 to build and manage the venue. The company raised funds for the venture via a stock and share issue in January 1936.
Designed by Dr. Oscar Faber, the Arena was a stark modernist octagonal-shaped building which borrowed heavily from the
Maple Leaf GardensMaple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
in
TorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. It was erected adjacent to the
Harringay StadiumHarringay Stadium was a major greyhound racing and speedway venue in Harringay, North London. It was built and opened in 1927 and closed in 1987.-Construction:...
in just eight months between February and October 1936. Its vast steel roof was constructed by
Dorman LongDorman Long, based in Middlesbrough, North East England, was a major steel producer, which diversified into bridge building, and is now a manufacturer of steel components and construction equipment for bridges and other structures...
& Co who had recently been responsible for the
Sydney Harbour BridgeThe Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...
and completed the new
Wembley StadiumThe original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
in 2007.
It had a seating capacity of almost 10,000 for
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and slightly more for
boxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. The actual arena was 198 feet (60.4 m) long by 88 feet (26.8 m) wide. A removable maple floor could be laid over the ice for non-sporting events. This arrangement clearly proved troublesome. At an event shortly after its opening the
Daily Herald reported that "claims that Harringay had solved its cold-feet problem were not quite substantiated. Cold air from the ice below the boards filtered through".
Sports venue
Specifically designed as an
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
venue, it quickly became famous as a venue for both
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and
boxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
.
Up to the Second World War, ice hockey enjoyed its most popular era in the UK until a revival in the 1990s. Two local teams were formed for the Arena's opening,
Harringay RacersHarringay Racers was a British ice hockey club based in Harringay, England.The side was founded in 1936 and initially played alongside Harringay Greyhounds at the Harringay Arena. Both sides entered the English National League, which Racers won in 1937/8. After a break during World War II, the...
and
Harringay GreyhoundsHarringay Greyhounds were a British ice hockey club based in Harringay, England.The side was founded in 1936 and initially played alongside Harringay Racers at the Harringay Arena. Both sides entered the English National League, which Greyhounds won in 1938/9 and again in 1939/40...
. On October 26, 1938, the first ice hockey game to be televised anywhere in the world was played at Harringay between the Racers and Streatham. A year later, WWII started and ice hockey matches were suspended. This interruption proved very damaging to the sport's popularity and post-war audiences remained thin for the remainder of the Arena's life.
Boxing became firmly established at the Arena prior to the war. On April 7, 1938 Harringay was the venue for the first boxing match to be televised live when the full 15 rounds between
Len HarveyLen Harvey was a boxer born in Stoke Climsland, Cornwall. A great tactician and defensive boxer who boxed at every weight division of his day. He began boxing at the very young age of 12 and boxed to he was 36. He was British champion at three weights, middleweight, light-heavy and heavyweight...
v
Jock McAvoyJock McAvoy was a British boxer who fought from 1927 to 1945. He was born Joseph Patrick Bamford in Rochdale, Lancashire. Jo Bamford adopted the name Jock McAvoy so that his mother did not realise he was boxing...
were broadcast. Following the war Harringay was a very successful boxing venue. During its 22 year life, it was home to five world title fights, a record for any British venue by the time the Arena ceased operating as a venue in 1958.
However famous the Arena became for boxing, commercial necessity led to a diversification into a wider range of events including:
- The basketball
Basketball at the 1948 Summer Olympics was the second appearance of the sport as an official medal event. A total number of 23 nations entered the competition....
and wrestlingAt the 1948 Summer Olympics, 16 wrestling events were contested, for all men. There were eight weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and eight classes in freestyle wrestling...
events for the 1948 Summer OlympicsThe 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in London, England, United Kingdom. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin...
.
- All England Open Badminton Championships
The All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments. Played annually, it developed after the success of world's first badminton tournament held in Guildford in 1898...
from 1947 to 1949.
- Home of the Horse of the Year Show
The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS - was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. Because of this, the show needed to be held indoors, making it a unique event....
for its first ten years, from 1949 to 1958. In its final year at Harringay, the show featured in the first broadcast of the BBC's new Saturday afternoon sports programme GrandstandGrandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
.
- Roller Speedway from 1939 until 1952, with a break during the War. In 1953, with the demise of roller speedway, the Arena hosted a Roller Derby
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...
match.
- Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
.
- Five-a-side football
thumb|240px|alt=Men playing football on artificial grass pitch.|Five-a-side game on astroturf pitch.Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players , rather than the usual eleven on each team. Other differences from football include a smaller...
.
- Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
.
- European Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
Championships from 1955.
Entertainment venue
The Arena's diversification went beyond sports and included a variety of entertainment events including:
Classical music and ballet
In the 1940s the Arena hosted ground breaking classical music events popularising classical music for the first time including the
London Music Festival in 1947 and 1948. The '48 festival included the hugely popular London debut of Pierino Gamba. 10,000 people watched this ten year old boy conduct the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra playing Beethoven and
DvořákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
. The festival also featured the world-famous Manuel Rosenthal, who brought his
Orchestre National de FranceThe Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre...
to join Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic in a concert that filled the Harringay Arena with 13,500 listeners
A report in
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on a classical music event in June of the following year said:
Classical music events also figured large in the 1949 calendar.
In April, famed black singer
Paul RobesonPaul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
appeared at Harringay as part of his European concert tour. Sell-out audiences, including one of 10,000 at the Arena, led him to describe the tour as " the most successful concert tour of my career"
In June, there was a short season of classical music events including a two-week stay by the
Philadelphia OrchestraThe Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
. The event was part of their hyped European tour. They were the first American orchestra to visit the UK since 1929. Financed by British theatrical impressario Harold Fielding, the tour was a critical success, but high ticket prices kept the post-war audiences away.
From August 27 to September 1, along with
Empress Hall, Earl's CourtThe Earls Court Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre, conference and event venue located in west London, United Kingdom in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . It is the largest exhibition venue in central London. It is served by two underground stations, Earl's Court and West...
, Harringay Arena was the venue for a series of five gala performances by
Alicia MarkovaDame Alicia Markova, DBE, DMus, was an English ballerina and a choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her career with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and touring internationally, she was widely considered to be one of the greatest classical ballet dancers of the...
,
Anton DolinSir Anton Dolin was an English ballet dancer and choreographer.Dolin was born in Slinfold in Sussex as Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey-Kay but was generally known as Patrick Kay. He joined Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1921, was a principal there from 1924, and was a principal...
and the Ballet Rambert. The success of these performances led to the formation of the
English National BalletEnglish National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin and based at Markova House in South Kensington, London, England. Along with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet, it is one of the four major ballet companies in Great...
.
Circuses
The Arena was well known as a venue for
circusA circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
es. It was home to
Tom Arnold'sTom Arnold, OBE was a theatrical producer in the United Kingdom.Born in Yorkshire, Arnold spent much of his life travelling although he considered Brighton his second home. His business activities were extensive and included opera, classical plays, films, revues, American rodeo and variety, ice...
annual Harringay Circus for 10 seasons from Christmas 1947 to Christmas 1957. For the first circus show in 1947 Arnold hired 20 baby elephants specially imported from Ceylon by the Chipperfield family. They arrived at the George V Dock in London's Docklands in October 1947 on SS Arbratus.
Billy SmartBilly Smart, Jr was widely known in Britain as a circus performer and impresario.Smart, whose real name was Stanley, was the tenth child and third son of Billy Smart, Sr. His father was a showman and fairground proprietor, who bought a circus in 1946. The first appearance of the Billy Smart circus...
occasionally appeared these shows. At one of the
Mammoth Christmas Circus, he spray-painted five of his elephants white, yellow, blue, cream and pink.
The 1952 circus included an elephant act with
SabuSabu Dastagir was a film actor of Indian origin—although he later took American citizenship. He was normally credited only by his first name, Sabu, and is primarily known for his work in film during the 1930s-40s in Britain and America.-Early life:Born in 1924 in Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of...
, the young Indian actor made famous by his appearance in films such as
The Thief of BaghdadThe Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies...
.
The 'resident band' for the circuses was led by Charles Shadwell and the signature tune
Down with the Curtain always introduced the proceedings.
The Arena also hosted a number of other circus shows. In 1956 the Moscow State Circus came to Harringay, the first occasion on which a state circus from the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
had visited Western Europe. Other events included a handful of western cowboy shows in the Fifties, including the 1952
Texas Western Spectacle, starring the famous cowboy singer/actor
Tex RitterWoodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
.
Other events
- There were ice skating shows including the huge production of Rose Marie on Ice in July 1950 starring the 1948 Olympic Champion Barbara Ann Scott. The Arena was also open as an Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
venue for the public.
- Harringay was the venue for the first National Colliery Music Festival in 1948. The festival included eight brass bands
A British-style brass band is a musical ensemble comprising a standardised range of brass and percussion instruments. The modern form of the brass band in the United Kingdom dates back to the 19th century, with a vibrant tradition of competition based around local industry and communities...
, three pipe bandA pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
s and nine male voice choirs, all from collieries around the UK. There were also displays of clog dancingClogging is a type of folk dance with roots in traditional European dancing, early African-American dance, and traditional Cherokee dance in which the dancer's footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both in unison against a floor or each other to create audible percussive...
and sword dancing by colliery groups. The finale was a performance by a 700-strong choir accompanied by a massed brass band and conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
- American evangelist
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
Billy GrahamWilliam Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
held his first 'Crusade' in the UK at the Arena from 1 March - 12 May 1954. Audiences could hear Graham event Sunday during the three month crusade. It was the first of 23 'crusades' and 'missions' that he held in the UK between 1954 and 1991. His visit was started off with a gala event at the stadium which included a visit by Roy RogersRoy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
and his famous horse Trigger.
- The Daily Worker
The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it appear that the paper reflected a...
used Harringay as a venue for its rallies in 1954 and 1950.
- The Ford Motor Company used the venue to launch the 1957 range of Ford cars namely the Consul, Zephyr and Zodiac.
- In the early summer of 1958, a music event was held at the Arena when people flocked to see the top artists of the day including Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
, James Kenny, Matt MonroMatt Monro was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s...
, Petula ClarkPetula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Dennis Lotis, Marion RyanMarion Ryan was a popular British singer in the 1950s.-Career:Born Marian Ryan in Middlesbrough, England, and once called "the Marilyn Monroe of popular song", Marion Ryan was a pop singer of the 1950s in the early years of British Independent Television...
and Laurie LondonLaurie London is an English singer, who achieved fame as a boy singer of the 1950s, recording in both English and German....
. The concert was called the Starlight Dance and it has been referred to as the start of what is thought of today as the full-scale arena concert.
- In April 1949, Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
gave a short series of concerts at the Arena. He returned the following year to sing at the 20th Daily Worker rally.
Decline and fall
Despite running an impressive and broad ranging calendar of events from 1947 to 1958, the change in the fortunes of ice hockey in the UK and the straitened post-war circumstances meant limited commercial success for the Arena after the Second World War. The Arena hosted its final event on Tuesday, 28 October 1958. It was a sentimental occasion and promoter
Jack SolomonsJack Solomons was a British boxing promoter who has been called "one of the greatest boxing promoters in history."He began promoting boxing in London during the 1930s. His first great success came when he put together a match between Jack London and Bruce Woodcock for the British heavyweight title...
headlined with a world class lightweight fight between
Dave CharnleyDave Charnley was an English lightweight boxer considered to be one of the greatest British fighters in his weight class...
and
Carlos OrtizFor the Cuban wrestler with the same name see Carlos Julian OrtízCarlos Ortiz is a Puerto Rican who was a three time world boxing champion, twice in the lightweight division and once in the Jr. Welterweights....
(who was to go on to become world champion). This is how The Times reported it:
Behind the scenes moves for the Arena's disposal had been going on for some time. International food retailer and manufacturer, Home & Colonial Stores Ltd were offered the site in 1957. They took possession of the building and the adjacent market hall in 1958. Works to convert the Arena to its new use were complete by February 1960. It was henceforth put to use as a food storage facility for the next 20 years until its demolition in 1978.
Through the early 1980s an open air Sunday market was held on the site up until the site was developed for shopping. The initial development included principally warehouse style shopping including DIY, bathroom and food wholesale outlets. A
Royal MailRoyal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
sorting facility was also built which survived the later redevelopment.
Early in the 21st century the whole site was redeveloped for retail shopping as the Arena Shopping Park, hosting mid-market brands such as
Next,
Carphone Warehouse,
HomebaseHomebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...
and a large
Fitness FirstFitness First is the largest privately owned health club group in the world with over 540 Fitness First clubs worldwide reaching over 1.7 million members in 21 countries...
gym.
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