Wilton's Music Hall

Wilton’s Music Hall stands in Graces Alley off Cable Street in Tower Hamlets. Built in the 19th century as a music hall, it is one of the few surviving examples of its kind in the East End. The building combines a grand hall with an 18th-century terrace of houses and a pub. Original features include a single gallery on three sides, barley-sugar cast-iron pillars and a high stage with a proscenium arch. In its early days the hall held supper tables, benches and standing areas, lit by a 300-jet gas chandelier with 27,000 crystals. The hall has hosted many of the best-remembered acts of early popular entertainment. Performers included George Ware, who wrote ‘The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery’, and stars such as Arthur Lloyd and George Leybourne. After a fire in 1877 the building was rebuilt and used by the East End Mission of the Methodist Church. During the Great Dock Strike of 1889 a soup kitchen fed a thousand meals a day to dockers’ families. The Mission remained open for nearly 70 years, supporting local people through difficult times. Today Wilton’s is a multi-arts venue with opera, puppetry, classical music, cabaret, dance and magic. Restoration work between 2012 and 2015 repaired the auditorium and the houses that form the front of house. The Mahogany Bar has been reinstated and a new Learning and Participation Studio created. The building now stands structurally secure, its historic fabric preserved for future generations to interpret.