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Walthamstow’s old Granada cinema on Hoe Street is a Grade II-listed building, built in 1930, and closed in 2003. Since then it’s spent a spell languishing in development limbo (there were plans to turn it into a church) and partially reopened as the pub and arts complex Mirth, Marvel and Maud.
But now it’s been purchased by Waltham Forest Council and is set to be developed into a major new 1,000-seat theatre – name TBC – that will be run by the team at the hugely successful Soho Theatre in central London.
As at Soho, there will be a focus on comedy in the eventual programming, but we’re also promised ‘an annual pantomime alongside screenings, theatre and community education work’.
Quoth Sadiq Khan:
‘I welcome this fantastic news about a much loved and iconic entertainment venue. London’s cultural heritage is the foundation of why people love to live, visit and do business here and this investment just adds to Waltham Forest’s cultural infrastructure as the first ever London Borough of Culture’.
It is expected that the development will take approximately three years.
Check out Soho Theatre’s current programme here.