York Hall facts for kids
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| Address | London, England, United Kingdom |
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| Location | Bethnal Green |
| Public transit |  Bethnal Green,  Cambridge Heath |
| Owner | Tower Hamlets Council |
| Operator | Greenwich Leisure Limited |
| Capacity | 1,200 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1929 |
| Renovated | 2005 |
The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a cool place in Bethnal Green, London, England. It's a big indoor building where lots of different events happen. It opened way back in 1929 and can hold about 1,200 people. Today, it's super famous for hosting exciting boxing matches from all over the world! Besides boxing, you can also find concerts, a gym, and a swimming pool here.
A Look Back in Time
York Hall was designed by an architect named A.E. Darby. It was officially opened in 1929 by the Duke and Duchess of York. They later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The hall started hosting boxing events in the 1950s.
Spa and Gym Upgrades
In the basement of York Hall, there used to be a special kind of bathhouse called a Turkish Bath or banya. It was one of the last public ones in East London. This area had steam rooms, saunas, and a place to relax.
However, the building's owner, Tower Hamlets Council, thought about closing it in 2004. But instead, they decided to give it a big makeover!
After a lot of work with Greenwich Leisure, the bath area became a fancy spa called Spa London in 2007. They added new rooms for beauty treatments. Now, it has a hammam (a type of steam bath), a large sauna, two 'aroma' steam rooms, and hot rooms. There's also a bucket shower, an ice fountain, and a plunge pool.
The whole building got a facelift. The gym became much bigger and had new, modern equipment. The entrance area and the swimming pool were also updated. Plus, they added brand new changing rooms. The gym now has a special area for functional training, including TRX and Technogym equipment.
Events and Shows
York Hall is also a very popular place for professional wrestling shows. Big wrestling companies like TNA Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and Frontier Wrestling Alliance have all held events here.
In March 2019, the hall hosted open workouts for UFC London, featuring famous fighters like Darren Till and Dominick Reyes. York Hall was also where the press conference for the first boxing match between YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul took place in July 2018.
Getting There
It's easy to get to York Hall! You can use the London Underground and get off at Bethnal Green. Or, you can use the London Overground and get off at Cambridge Heath. Many London Buses also stop nearby, including routes 8, 106, 254, 309, 388, D3, D6, and night routes N8 and N253.
