Fairfield Halls facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fairfield Halls |
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Fairfield Halls as seen from Queen's Gardens
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| General information | |
| Type | Concert hall |
| Architectural style | Modernist |
| Address | Park Lane, Croydon CR9 1DG |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°22′20″N 0°5′45″W / 51.37222°N 0.09583°W |
| Inaugurated | 2 November 1962 |
| Client | County Borough of Croydon |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Robert Atkinson and Partners |
Fairfield Halls is a famous place for arts, fun, and meetings in Croydon, London, England. It first opened its doors in 1962. Inside, you'll find a theatre, an art gallery, and a big concert hall. This concert hall is often used by the BBC for TV shows, radio recordings, and orchestra concerts.
Fairfield Halls closed in 2016 for a big update that cost around £30 million. It reopened in 2019, looking fresh and new. When it reopened, the Talawa Theatre Company moved in. They now have a 200-seat theatre space and offices there.
This venue has hosted many professional music shows, plays, musicals, comedy acts, and classical music concerts. But it's also a very important place for local community events. Schools often use it for their yearly choir concerts. Local music groups, opera clubs, amateur drama groups, and religious groups also use the space regularly. The Concert Hall even has a cinema with the biggest screen in Croydon!
In 2021, Fairfield Halls helped out during the COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom by becoming a large vaccination centre.
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A Look Back: History of Fairfield Halls
Fairfield Halls is built on a special piece of land. This land used to be called "Fair Field" and hosted a very popular fair until about 1860. It's also built over old railway tracks that connected the main London to Brighton railway to Croydon Central railway station. Today, this area is part of Queen's Gardens, Croydon. Before the halls were built, between 1930 and 1962, the land was used as a car park and even had air raid shelters during the war.
In 2012, Fairfield Halls turned 50 years old! To celebrate, the London Mozart Players held a special concert. The Earl of Wessex even came to the concert. A website was also launched to share the venue's history. It has over 2,000 digital pictures that you can search through. This makes it one of the biggest digital archives for a venue in Europe.
In 2014, the council paid to improve some parts of the building. They updated the Arnhem Gallery and turned an old "Green Room" into a new studio. They also added modern digital movie equipment to the Concert Hall, making the sound even better.
Big Changes: The 2016 Renovation
For many years, the Croydon Council, which owns the land, had plans to update Fairfield Halls. But these plans didn't happen until later. In 2015, new experts were hired to work on a £12 million plan for Fairfield Halls. Then, a bigger plan was made to spend around £30 million to update and modernize the halls between 2016 and 2018.
In February 2016, it was confirmed that the venue would close for two years. It shut its doors in July 2016. This was part of Croydon Council's bigger plan to create a new cultural and educational area in the town centre. This plan included building new homes, offices, shops, and a building for Croydon College. The reopening of Fairfield Halls was delayed a few times. The cost of the project also grew a lot, and not all parts of the plan were finished. It finally reopened on September 16, 2019, for six months. But then it had to close again because of the Covid pandemic until 2021.
Fairfield Halls: A Place for Shows
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Fairfield Halls has different spaces for different kinds of shows:
- The concert hall has 1,801 seats.
- The Ashcroft Theatre has 755 seats.
- The Arnhem Gallery is used for standing concerts and can hold up to 400 people.
Many famous artists and bands have performed at Fairfield Halls. These include David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Elton John, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, the Who, Queen, Sister Sledge, Morrissey, Status Quo, Free, Genesis, Petula Clark, Mott the Hoople, Wishbone Ash, The Stranglers, and Shane Filan from Westlife.
Some bands even recorded live albums here!
- Delaney & Bonnie & Friends recorded their live album On Tour with Eric Clapton at the halls. George Harrison was also part of their band for this recording.
- The Nice recorded most of their album Five Bridges live at the concert hall in 1969.
- Family performed here in 1970 and recorded their concert.
- Free recorded part of their album Free Live! at the venue in 1970.
Interestingly, Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible from the Damned used to clean the toilets at Fairfield Halls! Captain Sensible said that seeing a T. Rex concert there made him want to take music more seriously. He even mentioned working at the venue in his song "Croydon."
The famous comedy duo Morecambe and Wise had a show filmed at the halls in 1973. This was the only time their live stage act was recorded. In 1980, the International Staff Songsters of the Salvation Army held their first concert here.
Fairfield Halls was also a popular place for British professional wrestling for many years. Many wrestling matches were shown on ITV's World of Sport in the 1970s and 1980s. A special pilot episode of World of Sport Wrestling was filmed here in 2013. For wrestling shows, the stage could be lowered to the ground, and extra seats were added around the ring.
The electronic music band Tangerine Dream also played a concert here in 1982. This was just a week before they recorded their live album, Logos Live. Part 2 of their 1975 album Ricochet was also recorded at Fairfield Halls.
Fairfield Halls in Movies
Fairfield's concert hall has appeared in several movies:
- It was briefly seen in the film The Da Vinci Code. It was the place where Robert Langdon gave a speech to students.
- The venue also appeared in the films Made in Dagenham and Cuban Fury.
